Indifference Was Never an Option
by asterisms
Summary: When Edward Cullen, the gorgeous boy who recently moved into town with his equally gorgeous family, turns her down during the first week of sophomore year in front of what feels like the entire school, she swallows through the lump in her throat, tosses her hair back over her shoulder, and walks away with her head held high. She probably should have known that wasn't their end.
1. Prologue

Jessica Stanley is not the kind of girl who wallows in self pity because of a boy.

In fact, she's not the type of girl to do _anything_ for a boy.

So when Edward Cullen, the gorgeous boy who recently moved into town with his equally gorgeous family, turns her down during the first month of sophomore year in front of what feels like the entire school, she swallows through the lump in her throat, tosses her hair over her shoulder, and walks away with her head held high. When she sees his sister, the blonde one, smile with cruel mockery written in every inch of her face, she doesn't cry or break her stride. Alarm bells are ringing inside her head and it feels as if there's a fault line cracking into place beneath her lungs, but she is and always has been her Mamie's granddaughter, and so she doesn't let it show.

In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have asked him out in the quad when everyone was arriving to school just in time to watch the spectacle. Well. Consider this her lesson learned.

The good thing about having to sit through an entire day of classes after the aforementioned horrible display is that she doesn't have time to waste on coming up with all the reasons why she isn't good enough to date Edward Cullen. Lauren and Angela help too, of course. They spend the entire day trying to cheer her up, and although their methods differ greatly, Angela tending toward showering her with complements and Lauren toward insults to everyone else, she appreciates both of them.

Even Tyler helps. She knows he wasn't there to witness her embarrassment, but gossip spreads fast in a small school, so by second period he's offered to beat Edward's face in. She says no, of course, but thanks him anyway. And then she laughs, because really between the two of them Jessica is the one who can crush watermelons with her thighs, so if either of them is going to beat up someone else it's her.

To be entirely honest, she just wants this day to be over.

She spends the night working on homework and studying for an upcoming Spanish test. When she's not working, she's retelling the story of her shame to every family member she can get ahold of until it no longer sends a rush of heat across her face to remember.

The rest of the year passes as expected. Weeks pass and eventually no one even mentions that day anymore.

The volleyball team wins State. She joins her first club.

Edward Cullen remains dateless.

No one repeats her mistake.

She's over it.

She's been over it for months.

Junior year starts after a summer full of workouts and late nights getting drunk in the woods and on the beach, and she's ready to go through the year ignoring Edward Cullen's existence, as per their unspoken agreement. That is, until she walks into second period English with Mr. Collins to discover that Edward Cullen has been assigned to sit right next to her.

This might actually be a problem.

Jessica doesn't have room for problems. She's co-captain of the volleyball team this year and she's just started a job at the local news station as an intern. Luckily for her, however, Mr. Collins isn't very inclined to assign partner work, so she and Edward can continue not acknowledging each other.

It's fine. It's working.

And then Bella Swan happens.


	2. Chapter 1

"Charlie's daughter got in last night."

"Doesn't she live with her mom?" Jessica asks as she comes to sit at the counter. Her hair is still damp from the shower she took after her morning run, but she's given up trying to manage it. Curly hair does what it wants, after all.

Her mom had just been getting up when she'd left the shower, so Jessica takes the opportunity to relax and watch her mom get ready to leave for work.

"Yeah, that's why he's so excited," her mom says. She shakes her head with a fond smile. "That man's been prattlin' on about his little girl coming to live with him since early this summer."

"Little girl? Isn't she in the same grade as me?" Jessica asks dubiously. She's heard stories about Chief Swan's daughter, but she's never met her. All she knows is that Isabella Swan is in her Junior year and that she used to injure herself daily due to her dangerous level of clumsiness.

"He's a father who hasn't seen his daughter for any real length of time in years, Jess. Cut him some slack." She grabs her bag from the kitchen table and smiles mischievously at Jessica. "She'll probably be in school today. Maybe you can be friends."

Jessica groans and drops her forehead to the counter. "Mom, I can't just decide to be friends with her! I haven't even met her!"

"Jessica Tyler, I know for a fact that you can make friends with anyone if you set your mind to it. Now you be nice to this girl."

"Alright," Jessica says with a gusty sigh, "I'll do my best." Her mom laughs and presses a kiss onto the back of her head.

"I know you will, love, I'll see you tonight." She walks briskly toward the door, calling back as she goes, "Love you!"

"Love you too," Jessica grumbles as the front door swings closed. Once the sound of her mom's car driving away fades, she pushes herself away from the counter. Her stepfather has already left, so she has the house for herself for the remaining fifteen minutes before she has to leave for school. Normally she'd grab an apple and a book and head out early, perfectly content to wait in the school library or the quad for classes to start, but something feels different about today.

Something more than just a new girl in school.

Well, she can't sit at home all day. For one, she can't afford to miss any classes outside the mandatory absences for volleyball. Even more importantly, Edward would be absolutely insufferable, more so than usual, if he thought she was skipping for fun. For a boy who thinks he's the smartest person in the room, he's strangely concerned with making sure she doesn't fall behind. Not that she needs his help, of course, but he hardly listens to what she has to say on a good day.

Whatever, she thinks she pushes her hair back out of her face and goes to make sure her backpack is all put together. It's just another day.

Everything's going to be fine.

...

Everything is not fine.

Nothing goes horribly wrong-this is Forks, after all-but today is definitely not her day. For one, it starts with a pop quiz in first period. Government has never been a particularly difficult subject for her, but even so, surprise quizzes are always bad no matter how easy they happen to be.

Then she gets to English, and she knows that the entire day is going to suck.

"Jessica," Edward greets her coolly as she approaches her desk.

Jessica won't admit it to anyone, but the intensity of his disdain catches her off guard. They're by no means friends, to be entirely honest she's not sure if Edward has _any_ friends, but over the past year they've at least managed to move on from active dislike. Sure, Edward is a giant bag of dicks and he doesn't even bother to hide how much her annoyance amuses him on a daily basis, but he's never before sounded this harsh when he talks to her.

It's unsettling on a level she can't quite explain.

So instead of greeting him cheerily in response as she usually does, she nods warily and waits quietly for class to start.

Unfortunately, Mr. Collins decides to give the class a partner assignment in a rare attempt to shake things up. Instead of letting the students choose, as apparently that's too much responsibility for a class of students who will be graduating next year, he's assigned everyone to work with their desk partner. Which means she's stuck working with Edward. Fantastic.

"I'll write," Edward says, grabbing the packet from where she was holding her hand to take it from the pair sitting in front of them. Jessica glares, but grudgingly accepts it, determined to steal the packet as soon as she gets the opportunity. It's probably not wise to provoke him when he's this agitated, but she's not about to let the mood of some boy affect her grade. Even if that boy is Edward Cullen.

About halfway through, she finally manages to snag the handout, and she quickly fills in the next page, knowing with one hundred percent certainty that Edward will take any opportunity to grab it back. Which he then proceeds to do, not even a full second after she has that thought. Honestly, it's as if he's actively trying to piss her off.

"Hey," she protests uselessly. Edward ignores her, and even goes so far as to obviously go over her answers, checking for errors. "Unbelievable," Jessica mutters as she looks around at the other pairs. Every single one of them is discussing amongst themselves, a stark contrast to the tense silence between her and Edward.

"I've finished," Edward says eventually. "Would you like to check my answers?" She knows he's just messing with her, but she takes the offered packet anyway. Of course, the answers are near perfect, but she still makes a point to add comments here and there just to annoy him.

When she finally hands it back to him, smiling sweetly as she does, he's staring her down, unamused. It does nothing to deter her. She's absolutely sure that he's dying to roll his eyes or scoff in disgust, but instead he grabs the packet and strides to the front of the room to turn it in.

Jessica takes the opportunity to finally turn in her seat to talk to the people around her. Tyler catches her eye and makes a face at her, and she rolls her eyes, jerking her head toward Edward where he's speaking quietly to Mr. Collins. Tyler nods sagely, but before she can continue their conversation, his partner jabs his arm with her pencil and he begins to pay attention once more.

No one in the class has finished their assignment as quickly, but no one else really cares as much as Edward seems to. Besides, if they finish this assignment, Mr. Collins will just feel the need to assign another one. Jessica spends the rest of the hour wasting time with the people around her, ignoring Edward's disapproving presence with practiced ease.

Once class ends, she leaves gratefully to head to trig, catching up and chatting with Angela along the way.

She can almost feel Edward's stern gaze following her as she goes.

...

Normally she loves trigonometry since she's always been good with math and Mr. Varner has chosen her as one of his favorite students this year, but it's hardly any better than English. For some reason she doesn't know, Eric is too distracted to be of any help with their problem set, and Angela sits too far away to go to for sympathy.

At least she finally gets to meet the new girl everyone is talking about. Apparently she likes to be called Bella and doesn't like the rain. Nothing too interesting, but in a town like Forks people take whatever gossip they can get.

As she promised her mother, Jessica does her best to be welcoming, but it's hard to be friendly when she can tell that Bella doesn't care at all about what she has to say as they walk to Spanish and then lunch together.

Oh well, at least they'll be playing volleyball in gym today.

...

"Who are _they_?"

Jessica looks up from her lunch and can't help but roll her eyes. She can feel Angela looking at her, pleading with her to be nice, but honestly this is ridiculous. The new girl hasn't even been here for a full day and she's already set her sights on the Cullen family. How typical. If Jessica were a betting kind of girl, which to be honest she kind of is, she'd be willing to bet all the money she has that it's their resident ginger who's caught her attention.

At that thought, Edward meets her gaze from across the cafeteria and she has to fight not to frown at him. She tries not to hold grudges, but she's still bitter about his foul attitude in English. Before she can let it bother her too much, she looks back at Bella and grins conspiratorially, leaning in to almost whisper in her ear. The poor girl is flushed with embarrassment, no doubt because Edward caught them staring.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen. Rosalie and Jasper Hale are the blondes. Alice Cullen is the one who got up and left just now," Jessica tells her. As annoying as people's fascination with the oh so beautiful Cullen family can be, she's always enjoyed a bit of harmless gossip. "They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife."

"They are… very nice looking," Bella chokes out. Jessica bites her lip to keep herself from cackling at the blatant understatement. It's always nice to know that she's not the only one affected by the Cullens.

"I guess," she says once she's positive she won't laugh. "If you're into that kind of thing." At Bella's incredulous look, the first time since this conversation started that she's bothered to look away from the Cullens for longer than a few seconds, Jessica smiles meanly and shrugs. "You know, the whole 'statue of David' thing. It gets old after a while, don't you think? I mean, I prefer my dates to not be made of stone, but I guess that's just me."

A loud bark of laughter startles her and she flinches along with most of the people at the tale, looking over find the source only to see Edward with his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking. The entire cafeteria had gone quiet, everyone staring at the rare sight of a Cullen showing any type of positive emotion.

"Huh," she mumbles as she watches him wave his concerned looking siblings away. With how tense he was in English, laughter is the last thing she expected to come out of his mouth today. "That's a first."

Bella still looks confused, as if she can't fathom the thought of someone not finding the Cullens completely irresistible, when Mike nudges her side.

"Don't mind Jess, Bella. She's just bitter because she asked Edward out last year and he said no." Mike raises his brows pointedly, waiting for a response, and Jessica flicks her hair over her shoulder with a scoff.

"Well at least _I_ had the balls to ask," she says, trying not to smile. "Unlike some people we know, I believe in actually going after what you want instead of just sitting around waiting for a moment that will never come."

Tyler laughs and offers a high five that Jessica gladly accepts as she watches Lauren smile behind her hand. Mike pouts sullenly, but he gets no sympathy from the rest of the table. Bella just bites her lip and looks back over at the Cullens. Angela, who is universally acknowledged as the nicest person among their group of friends, takes pity on her.

"They're not really related," she says as if the last exchange never happened. "The Hales are twins and Mrs. Cullen is their aunt, but Dr. Cullen adopted all of them when they were young."

"That's really nice of them to take care of all those kids."

"Yeah, especially since Dr. Cullen and his wife are so young. They're only in their thirties," Jessica says, claiming the role of head gossip once more.

"Wow," Bella says breathily.

"Mhmm, they're all together too."

"With one notable exception," Mike mutters. Jessica rolls her eyes at him and continues, ignoring Mike when he pouts again and flutters his eyelashes at her. Honestly, he thinks he's so cute.

"As I was saying, they're all together. Alice and Jasper are dating, and Rosalie and Emmett are together too."

"Oh," Bella says, "that's…"

"Yeah," Jessica says with a shrug. "It's a little weird, especially since they don't really interact with anyone outside their family, but I guess it works for them."

"And Edward?"

"Like Mike said, he's the exception. He hasn't dated anyone since he got here."

"He probably thinks he's too good for us," Lauren finally contributes to the conversation. She's sneering over at the Cullens, and Jessica kicks her ankle gently, earning a small smile. As much as Jessica is completely over the embarrassment of her failed attempt at getting a date with Edward, Lauren has held onto her grudge against him with a ferocity that would surprise anyone who doesn't know her well.

"Since he got here?" Bella asks after a marginally awkward pause.

"They moved from Alaska a couple years ago," Jessica answers.

"Oh." Bella sneaks another glance toward the Cullen table. "So, who's the one with the reddish brown hair?"

"Really?" Jessica can't help but ask even though she's in no way surprised. She shakes her head and looks over at the Cullens where Emmett and Rosalie are nuzzling each other, which is actually rather tame for them when it comes to PDA. "That would be Edward."

As if he heard her, he looks across the cafeteria again. This time, he flicks his gaze to Bella after meeting Jessica's eyes. Bella, unprepared to be the focus of his gaze, blushes all across her face as she quickly looks away to stare determinedly at the table. Jessica frowns and looks between them. Edward looks frustrated, and he turns to have a quick conversation with the rest of his siblings before standing up and leading them out of the cafeteria.

Bella is still focused on picking apart her lunch.

Jessica huffs out a laugh and nudges her. "You can look up now," she says. "They're gone."

Bella glares halfheartedly, and Jessica smiles winningly. After a staring contests that lasts just over a minute, Bella shakes her head and rests her chin on her hand, watching the door the Cullen family left through.

"So, Bella," Mike says to draw her back into conversation. "What class do you have next?"

"Oh, um…" She digs through her bag to find her schedule. "Biology with Mr. Banner."

"I have that too," Angela says with a smile. Jessica would normally wonder if Angela's mom had made her promise to be nice to the new girl too, but for as long as they've known each other, Angela has never been anything but genuinely kind. She's still not entirely sure how they managed to become friends.

"Me too," Mike adds. He leans forward and smiles widely, looking very much like a golden retriever puppy. "I can walk you there."

Jessica and Lauren share a knowing look, and Lauren rolls her eyes at Mike's lack of subtlety. Jessica just grimaces and shakes her head. It is a little pathetic, but it's not her problem.

"Or we could all walk there together," she suggests. Mike deflates a little, but when Bella smiles, he seems content again.

They stay at the table until a few minutes before lunch ends, chatting about the latest Government assignment and Tyler's upcoming basketball game. Bella contributes a little, but everyone is content to let her remain in the background where she seems the most comfortable.

Finally, they get up to put their trays away and head to class.

...

Mike does his best to monopolize Bella's attention on the way to Biology, but he's thwarted by Angela who draws her into a conversation about what her school had been like back in Phoenix. Once he's accepted defeat, Mike falls into step with Jessica.

"She doesn't like me, does she." He sounds frustrated and confused, and Jessica sighs. Mike has always been quick to become infatuated, she would know since she's been the one who stayed up late to help him drown his sorrows in ice cream and Mario Cart last time this happened, but this is a new record.

"I don't know," she says. "You did just meet today. Give it some time."

Mike frowns. He watches Angela and Bella walk and says, "I bet it's Cullen."

"Oh my god," Jessica mutters. Louder so Mike can hear, she says, "She hasn't even met Edward, Mike. You need to relax." Jessica doesn't like the strange look that Mike gives her once she's finished speaking.

"You know," he says, and she especially doesn't like his tone, "I think this is the first time I've heard you say Cullen's name without sounding like you want to hit something."

"What? That's not true." Mike ignores her.

"I mean, if I didn't know better I might start to think you actually like him or something."

Jessica shoves him, but he just laughs and wraps an arm around her shoulders.

A few beats of silence pass.

"We should date," he says out of absolutely nowhere. Jessica almost stumbles, but she catches herself by reaching up to grab Mike's hand where it's resting on her shoulder.

"Oh my god, Mike!" She shoves at him again, but he just pulls her even closer. She sighs and leans into his side. "I thought you liked Bella."

"I thought you liked _Edward_."

"That's not the same," she protests. Mike scoffs and Jessica groans. "It isn't! I asked him out like a year ago, let it go."

Mike sighs. "Yeah, okay," he says. "It's just. It wouldn't be bad if you did. Like him, I mean. You don't need to prove anything." Jessica stares incredulously up at him, but he looks resolutely ahead.

"Who are you and what have you done with Mike Newton?" she asks. Mike is nowhere near what she'd call emotionally challenged most of the time, but sometimes, like now for example, he manages to surprise her.

"I'm just saying, you're super independent and that's awesome. Like, it was really cool how you handled it when he rejected you, but you're allowed to want a boy to like you. Even one like Cullen who, and I would like this on record, in no way deserves someone as cool as you. Just, no shame, you know?" He's watching Bella as he speaks, and Jessica knocks her forehead against his side, unable to keep the smile from her face.

"Thanks," she whispers, but she knows he heard when she sees a light blush spread across his cheeks.

Maybe she was wrong earlier. Maybe today will end well after all.


	3. Chapter 2

Bella stumbles over the threshold of the biology classroom, because of course, and Jessica hurries to disguise her laugh as a cough. Luckily, Bella is too embarrassed to notice anything beyond her own two feet as she makes her way to Mr. Banner's desk. Unfortunately, she manages to knock her hip into one of the workbenches, which results in a snicker from one of the boys sitting close by.

Jessica shakes her head. She doesn't know if she'd be able to survive being that clumsy all the time.

Edward is already at his workbench, surprising absolutely nobody, and Jessica feels a brief pang of sympathy when she sees that he's the only one without a partner. From what she's seen so far, Bella is easily startled, and Edward is definitely what one would call startling.

At that moment, Bella walks by him and almost stops dead in her tracks before she manages to stumble forward. She speed walks to Mr. Banner's desk and only begins to trudge back to the open seat when he motions her toward it.

Concerned, Jessica looks to Edward, wondering what could have startled the other girl so badly.

She wishes she hadn't.

After five months of sitting next to him in English, Jessica is relatively well versed in the facial expressions of Edward Cullen. She knows what he looks like when he's annoyed. She knows what he looks like when he's pleased. She even knows what he looks like when he's ready to tear a book in half with his bare hands. Never before has she seen him look like this. If she had to put a name to it, she'd go with furious.

Whereas earlier today he'd been a bit tense, now he looks as if one movement could shatter him. In the brief glance she'd gotten of his face before he turned his head, she'd managed to see his lips curled back into what could easily become a snarl and his eyes darker than ever, his brows drawn heavy over them as he glared at Bella. Everything about him screams 'threat!' and Jessica's sympathy for Bella turns sharply into fear.

If she had the option, she would turn and walk right back out the door.

Unfortunately, Mr. Banner has already acknowledged her presence with a nod. At least her workbench is almost entirely across the room from where Edward is sitting. As she walks over to set down her backpack, she meets Bella's eyes and winces. The other girl looks terrified.

Jessica smiles uneasily and shrugs. No one else in the room has seen Edward's sudden change of mood. And even if they had, it's not like one student glaring at another is cause enough for class to be canceled, even if she would prefer it at this point.

Bella gives her a hesitant smile of her own and collapses into her chair, quickly tossing her hair forward over her shoulder to form a barrier between her and Edward.

Jessica can't help but stare.

When Edward turns to see her watching, he freezes. Unnaturally still, he gazes into her eyes and she feels trapped. She doesn't know what's happening. None of this behavior makes sense given the context of what she knows about Edward. Because what she knows, however little, leaves no room for whatever is happening with him right now. He looks dangerous, and Jessica doesn't know what to think.

The Edward she knows is an ass, yes, but never downright angry or cruel. He's too smart for his own good and everyone else's and he knows it, but he's never deliberately rude. And yes, she knows he finds pleasure in annoying her but whenever she comes to class feeling like shit he stays quiet, as if he knows and doesn't want to make it worse. For every time he's left her wanting to hit something, there's been another where he was kind, gentle almost as if he can't stand the thought of people seeing him as something other than what he is. And what he is, she knows although she can't explain why, is good.

In this moment, all she wants is for him to remember that too.

Mr. Banner clears his throat, and the moment is broken as Edward tears his gaze away to look out the window. Jessica feels herself start to relax as she lets out a breath she hadn't even known she was holding. Now that he's no longer staring at her with those dark eyes, she feels a little silly for thinking such sappy, dramatic things.

Even so, throughout the lecture she can't help but look over to Bella's workbench. Each time, Bella is staring down at her notebook where she hasn't written anything down except for a few stray doodles, curling into herself as if trying to avoid any and all attention. Edward isn't moving either, but instead of making himself smaller, he's practically a textbook case of body language that warns everyone not to get closer.

"Hey, Jess." Jessica feels a sharp point dig into her arm and startles. She turns to look at her workbench partner, a girl named Sarah who was in her History class last year, and frowns.

"What?" she asks, doing her best to stay quiet enough that Mr. Banner won't hear.

"You've been staring at the new girl for like, five minutes now." She quickly checks to make sure Mr. Banner isn't looking before leaning closer. "Is everything alright?"

"What? Oh, yeah, everything's fine," Jessica says, doing her best to sound reassuring and unconcerned. Sarah doesn't look convinced.

"Are you sure? You're not even listening to the lecture."

"Neither are you." At Sarah's annoyed look, Jessica purses her lips. "I took notes on the chapter last night," she says. "I'll be fine.

"If you says so," Sarah says, and Jessica knows she isn't satisfied but she's grateful that she's not pushing for more information. She and Sarah aren't really friends, but they're friendly enough, and although they don't really talk about things outside of class work, they do care about each other, if only because one person not doing well will generally affect both of their grades.

She was telling the truth when she told Sarah that she took notes from the book last night, but she needs to stop worrying about whatever is going on with Bella and Edward, so she does her best to pay attention to the rest of the lecture.

As soon as the bell rings, Jessica looks up to see that Edward has already made it halfway to the door, striding purposefully as he ignores everyone in the room. Never before has she seen him act like this, and she vows to question him in class tomorrow. He probably won't answer any of her questions, if only because he'd hate to make things easy for her, but at least it will make her feel better to have tried.

She packs her things away slowly before going to meet Mike and Bella at the door and waving to Angela who's already headed to her next class.

Jessica wants to ask Bella what had happened to make Edward react so strongly, she's naturally curious and Bella is probably the safest option to interrogate right now, but she isn't sure how to say it. Luckily, Mike has never really bothered with things like tact.

"So," he says. "Did you stab Cullen with a pencil or what?"

"Mike," Jessica says sharply. Bella has gone pale, which is quite an achievement considering how pale her skin normally is.

"So that isn't normal, then," she says quietly. Jessica rests a hand on her upper arm.

"Maybe something happened before biology to piss him off," she says. She knows it isn't true. Anyone who saw the way Edward glared at Bella as she passed would know that it was about her. But still, she likes Bella, even if she is a little awkward and clumsy as hell. She doesn't need to make her feel worse.

"Yeah, maybe," Bella mumbles. Clearly, she knows it was something to do with her too.

"He looked like he was in pain, though," Mike says. He shakes his head and scoffs. "Cullen's a pretty weird guy, but I've never seen him act like that before."

"Weird?" Bella asks. Clearly, her curiosity about the beautiful strangers is enough to distract her from whatever had just happened in biology. Jessica really can't blame her.

"Well, he never talks to anyone outside his family, for one. Also, he gets this look on his face whenever someone meets his eyes, like he's offended they'd even dare to gaze upon him." Mike says this all with a straight face, and Jessica can't help but laugh.

"It's true," she confirms when Bella turns to her. "I mean, I sit next to him in English and all I know about him is pretty much just gossip."

"Oh. Did he ever, um…" She blushes, and Jessica wants to wrap her up in a blanket and give her nice things. Instead, she snorts and shakes her head.

"Nope," she says. "I mean, he glares a little most days, but that's about it."

"Oh."

"Hey, it's probably just Edward being a little weirder than usual," Jessica says.

"Yeah," Mike adds, "I know if I'd sat next to you I wouldn't have wasted the whole period glaring out the window."

Jessica holds back a sigh. Mike is nowhere near as subtle as he thinks he is. But as she watches Bella smile, for real this time, she wonders if maybe that's the point.

…

As soon as they walk through the gymnasium doors, Coach Clapp is upon them.

"Isabella Swan," he says with a welcoming smile. "My name's Coach Clapp, but you can feel free to call me Coach. Glad to have you here." He offers his hand and Bella shyly reaches out to shake it, as if she can't quite believe this man actually exists. Jessica completely understands. Unlike the other teachers here, Coach Clapp is brimming with enthusiasm that manifests not in passionate speeches but in a bright, immense presence that makes his already imposing frame even larger.

The first time he'd yelled during a game, Jessica had almost fallen over in surprise at how loud his voice managed to get.

"Nice to meet you," Bella replies once Coach Clapp releases her hand. "And, um, call me Bella, please."

"Of course, Bella," Coach says. He signs the form she hands him and points her toward the locker rooms. "You can go on ahead, I'll get Jessica to grab some clothes for you."

Once Bella walks away, tripping over her feet twice as she goes, Coach turns to Jessica.

"Now, are the rumors true?" he asks.

"What rumors?" Jessica asks, although she's not sure she wants to know going by the dark look on Coach's face.

"Mr. Varner had a great time telling us the story of Miss Swan trying to introduce herself to his class over lunch today."

"Oh man," Jessica says, trying to picture Bella being forced to speak in front of a crowd. "Poor Bella."

"But is it true?"

"Um, I guess? She's pretty clumsy, but I'm sure everything's gonna be fine." Coach snorts and shakes his head.

"That's a shame," he says, "The coach from Oak Harbor was telling me all about their new lineup last weekend and I was hoping the new girl might be a good addition to the team."

"Yeah," Jessica says, trying to picture Bella playing volleyball and not endangering either her own life or someone else's, "that's probably never going to happen."

"Oh well, I guess we can't all get what we want." He checks the time and, upon seeing class is about to start, reaches out to pat her on the back, nearly knocking her over. "You better get in there and grab a spare uniform for Bella. Also, I want you to stick by her today and try to keep her from killing anyone with a stray ball."

"Sure thing, coach." Jessica laughs and heads for the locker rooms.

There's no way Bella could be that bad.

…

She was wrong.

Apparently there is a way, and Bella has been doing her best to find it all period.

Jessica is the only one with any real experience playing volleyball in this gym period, so Bella's not the only one struggling, but still. It's a travesty. She's positive that by the end of the day, Bella is gonna have a serious bruise on her wrist from trying and failing to hit the ball correctly. Even Mike has retreated to another court.

"Okay, no," Jessica says as Bella lines up to serve. "Let me fix something real quick." After making a few changes to Bella's stance, Jessica steps back and watches as she sends the ball sailing clear over the net for the first time. She cheers and Bella smiles shyly as the people on the other team try and fail to keep it from touching the ground. Bella makes the next few serves on her own, but Jessica can tell she's relieved when they have to rotate positions again.

They play until the final bell rings, and Jessica is glad to see Bella actually enjoying herself. Well, maybe not _enjoying_ , but at least she doesn't look like she'd rather die.

Once they've changed back out of their uniforms and left the gym, Jessica splits from where Mike is still hovering around Bella to head to her own locker. She and her stepdad are cooking dinner together tonight, and she knows that he'll start to worry if she waits too long to get home.

She's still a little concerned about Edward, but Bella doesn't seem upset anymore, so Jessica figures it can wait until tomorrow.

…

Unfortunately, that doesn't last long.

She was determined to question him in class the next day, but when she sees Edward stalk out of the front office, she knows she can't pass up this opportunity.

"Hey, asshole!" she yells. Okay, not the best way to start the conversation, but it works. Edward pauses and she can clearly see that he's deciding whether to let her catch him before he leaves or not. She makes that decision for him by speed walking forward to stand in front of him.

"Jessica," he greets her stonily.

"What the hell is your problem?" she demands. He looks nonplussed, as if he has no idea what she's talking about, or maybe he does and just doesn't think it's that bad. She's honestly not sure which she'd prefer.

"Can I help you?" He glares, but it's nowhere near the level he reached in biology so she's not that impressed.

"Yes, you can go find Bella and apologize." She does her best to sound fierce as she places her hands on her hips, but if the smirk curling at the edge of his mouth says anything, it's that she hasn't quite managed it. He even makes a point to tilt his head down in order to see her face from his ridiculous height. God, what a dick.

"Can I?" he asks. He moves to step around her and she whips out her arm to stop him, forcing him to pause.

"You almost made her cry, Edward!"

"Because obviously you've _never_ made another girl cry." Well, he's not wrong. But still. Not fair. Before she can say anything, however, Edward runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "No, wait. That's not-"

"It's cool," Jessica says, too stunned by the sight of Edward Cullen flustered to really care. "I mean, it's not, because Bella's my friend and how you treated her today is not okay."

"You're friends with Bella?" he asks.

"Yes," she says, a little bit offended by how surprised he sounds. She knows she can be judgemental and gossipy, but she resents the idea that she can't make friends. And even if she couldn't, Edward has absolutely no room to judge because really, compared to him she's doing great. He grins, and it's the first time since lunch, probably. She's not sure why but she likes it.

"Are we friends?" he asks, tilting his head curiously, watching her with an almost playful look on his face. It's vaguely unsettling.

"That's… You-" she shakes her head and glares up at him. "That is _not_ the point of this conversation!"

"That's not an answer."

"Are you going to apologize to Bella?" she asks, deliberately ignoring his question.

"If I say yes, will you let me leave?" He's still smirking, although it's more pronounced now as if the idea of her letting him do anything is hilarious. It's infuriating, and Jessica makes a strangled noise of frustration. Once she thinks she'll be able to speak without yelling, she flips her hair over her shoulder and glares.

"Again, that's not the point." She wonders if she's really going to have to explain the basic rules of social etiquette to a seventeen year old boy. Some of them could really benefit from it, but she's always thought that Edward was different. It's what drew her to him in the first place. Where all the other boys her age were loud and obnoxious drama queens, Edward had been refreshing in how reserved and polite he generally acted. Even when he was turning her down, he hadn't made it into a big deal, and not once has he held it over her head.

He smiles at her, then, and she can't help the hitch in her breath.

"Alright," he says. "I'll apologize."

"Good," she says, and it doesn't come out as strong as she'd hoped. Edward's smile grows and he steps closer.

"Good," he echoes quietly. She freezes, unsure what exactly is happening. Before anything even can happen, however, Edward looks back to the front office and lets out a frustrated huff of breath. He looks back at her and his smile returns. "I'll see you in class, Jessica."

And then he's gone.

She can't even turn to watch him leave, too busy processing everything that has just occurred.

She feels as if the world has shifted beneath her feet. Her heart is pounding uncomfortably fast in her throat and she raises a hand to her pulse, taking a deep breath as she counts the beats. Her entire body feels lighter than before, as if she could leap into the air and stay there, and the tips of her fingers are tingling. It's not an unfamiliar feeling.

In fact, she very distinctly remembers feeling it last year.

It was the feeling she got as she stood in front of Edward, just moments before asking him out.

Oh no, she thinks. Not again.

She's supposed to be over this. It's not a problem anymore it can't be.

But then she thinks of his smile and the way she could see it reflected in his eyes and the crinkle of his nose and cheeks. She remembers the breathless feeling, the tight anticipation. She can still hear the way he said her name before he left, different from how he's ever said it before. It's not a bad feeling, not really.

And as she stands there in the parking lot, she knows she wouldn't mind feeling it again. And yet-

"Jessica?" It's Bella. She sounds upset, and Jessica forces herself to let go of the shivery feelings as best as she can.

"Hey, Bella!" she says with a smile. Then she really looks at the girl and sees the way her shoulders are hunched forward and the nervous way she's fiddling with the straps of her bag. She looks as if she's going to cry. Jessica hurries to her side. "What's wrong?" she asks.

"Did you see Edward walk by a little bit ago?" she asks. When Jessica nods, she bites her lip and looks around nervously, as if Edward is going to leap out of the bushes any moment now. "Did he seem angry?"

"A little bit, yeah." Jessica narrows her eyes when Bella takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Why?"

"He was talking to the woman at the front desk when I went to return my paperwork," she says. "I heard him asking to be moved to a different period for biology. He left as soon as he noticed I'd entered the room."

"Oh." Jessica thinks back to the way Edward had acted when she'd first started talking to him. He'd definitely been angry, and it's clear to her now that it must have been because he saw Bella. Even stranger, he'd left just before Bella came out of the office, as if he knew exactly when she'd come outside. "I thought you said you hadn't done anything to him before."

"I didn't!"

"But that doesn't make any sense," Jessica says. "I've never seen him act so rude before. There has to be something." When she sees the look on Bella's face she hurries to continue. "I mean, obviously whatever it is it's not your fault, but- Bella?"

The other girl is standing with her eyes closed and her hands clenched by her sides. "I think I'm just gonna go home," Bella says, sounding defeated.

"Okay," Jessica replies gently. "Do you need anything?"

"No, I'll be okay," Bella answers. She tries to smile, but it comes out as more of a pained grimace, and Jessica smiles back as nicely as she can.

"Alright, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah," Bella says with a wave as she heads for her truck.

What a great end to her first day, Jessica thinks. She's glad she never had to deal with something like this when she first moved to Forks.

Jessica shakes her head and turns to watch Bella go with a determined frown on her face. It's obvious to her that she has to do something about this, but she doesn't know what. And to think this morning she'd been convinced they wouldn't even get along. What a joke. At least her mamie will be proud when Jessica calls her later to tell her all about it. She'd always been the one who told Jessica to be kinder when she was growing up.

Besides, maybe she can talk to Edward again tomorrow (meaning actually talk this time instead of verbally attacking and then turning into a mess of confused feelings) to try and find out what's really going on with him. While she's doing that, maybe she can talk to him about some other stuff too.

She remembers the way he smiled at her and sighs. Surely getting this worked up over something as small as a smile is ridiculous, especially in the face of how he treated her new friend, but she can't help it. She'll never admit this to anyone else, but she likes the idea of Edward being nice to her. Of Edward smiling at her. And maybe…

No.

She learned her lesson last year.

But then, there's nothing wrong with some harmless flirting, is there?

A loud rumble draws her attention back to her surroundings and she reaches up to tug at a stray curl as she watches Bella's giant truck leave the parking lot.

She should really be getting home too, she's sure her stepdad is worried by now, but she knows he'll be able to tell something's up and she's not entirely sure how to talk about it yet. All she knows is that her friend is upset because of Edward and that when he smiles at her, she likes it.

God.

What a mess.


	4. Chapter 3

"I don't know what to do," Jessica says with a groan. She's spread out on her back on one of the picnic tables near the parking lot with one arm flung over her eyes. Lauren laughs and pokes at her stomach.

"Stop being so dramatic," she says as she rolls her eyes. "I thought you said you chewed him out yesterday."

"Well, yeah. But I still have no idea why any of it happened!"

"Is it really any of your business, though?" Tyler asks. Jessica sits up sharply, and both she and Lauren glare, making him raise his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying. It sounds like this is between Edward and Bella."

"But I want to know," Jessica whines. Lauren pats her consolingly on the thigh.

"I know, babe," she says. "Don't listen to what Tyler says. He doesn't understand you like I do."

"Thanks, Lor," Tyler says dryly. Lauren smiles sweetly at him and Jessica snickers. "Alright, clearly you're really worried about this. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Umm, I'm not really sure." She fiddles with the straps of her bag. "That's why I'm talking to you right now."

"Well. Your first step is to talk to Edward."

"Obviously," Jessica says in reply.

"Hey," Tyler warns playfully. "No bitching if you want my help."

"Wow. Tyler just called you a bitch, Jess. What're you gonna do about it?" Lauren asks.

"What? No!" Tyler protests. "That's not what-" Jessica throws herself at him before he can finish his sentence, crowing with victory when she knocks him off the bench and onto his back on the ground. Tyler huffs and snatches her hands before she can attempt to tickle him.

"You think I'm a bitch, Crowley? Why don't you say it to my face?" She smiles down at him, and he sighs fondly.

"Not at all, Jess," he says. "You're the kindest, sweetest, most thoughtful person I know."

"Damn straight," she says. She gets on her knees and swings her leg over so she's no longer straddling him and offers a hand to help him sit up. He takes it and kisses the back of it.

"Truly, my lady, your generosity knows no bounds." Jessica groans and pushes him back down, but he just laughs. Lauren joins in, and Jessica shoots her a betrayed look. She laughs harder until she's almost cackling.

"I can be nice!" Jessica protests. "I'm the nicest person I know!"

"Liar," Lauren says, once she manages to stop laughing.

" _Angela_ is the nicest person you know," Tyler adds.

"I guess," Jessica grumbles. She sighs. "Right, what should I do about Edward?"

"Can't you just ask him what happened?" Tyler asks.

"I already tried that," Jessica replies.

"Do it without swearing at him next time," Lauren advises. Jessica sticks her tongue out at her and Lauren kicks at her. "You're such a child, I swear."

"Oh like you have any room to talk," Jessica says. "I mean, just last week you-"

"No!" Lauren shouts, slapping a hand over Jessica's mouth. "We do not speak of it."

"Do I want to know?" Tyler asks. Jessica shrugs and rolls her eyes while Lauren glares. "Right, well, I have to go meet with my French teacher. I'll see y'all later." He stands and slings his backpack over his shoulder before walking away with a wave. Jessica and Lauren watch him go.

Lauren still hasn't taken her hand away, so Jessica opens her mouth and bites one of her fingers, making Lauren pull away with a jerk.

"Holy fuck," she says. "You're supposed to lick it, you dick." Jessica raises an eyebrow and Lauren groans.

"I'm not gonna go there," Jessica reassures her. "But I just want you to know that I very much appreciate the setup."

"Anyways, you were whining about Edward," Lauren says as she rubs her hand against Jessica's hair. Jessica flinches and bats her hand away with a pout, but she supposes she deserves it for biting her in the first place.

"Right," Jessica says. "What do you think I should do?"

"Why do you care?"

"I told you already, Bella is my friend and I want to help her."

"Okay," Lauren says. "I believe you."

"So why'd you ask?"

"Now tell me the other reason," she demands.

"What?" Jessica asks with a frown. "What other reason? There is no other reason."

"Jessica," Lauren says with a roll of her eyes. "I think we both know there's another reason. What else happened yesterday? And don't try to say nothing. I've known you since you first moved here. You can't lie to me."

"Okay, well. It's entirely possible that there was some flirting before he left." She picks at the peeling paint of the picnic table and frowns. "Maybe."

"Do you want there to be flirting?" Lauren asks.

"I- What? No!" She shakes her head violently. "That'd be ridiculous. I already tried asking him out and look where that got me."

"You could always try again."

"No. Not happening."

"Why? I think you'd look cute together. Edward's a bit of a bore but to each their own, I guess." She shrugs. "Obviously I think you're too good for him but if he's the guy you want then I say go for it."

"Holy shit," Jessica says breathily. "What am I gonna do?"

"Like Tyler said earlier, talking to him would be a good start. I thought that was your plan already."

"Well, yeah, but what am I supposed to say? 'Hey Edward remember yesterday when you looked at Bella like you wanted to rip her head off and then kill everyone in the room and also we should totally make out'? For some reason I don't think that'd go over very well."

"Then don't say that, obviously."

"This is awful," Jessica mutters.

"Hey," Lauren says, nudging at her shoulder. "Relax. You'll figure something out."

"Thanks." It doesn't really help her, but she appreciates the effort. "Love you."

"I love you too, dork," Lauren says with a smile. "Now c'mon, we have to get to class. Also there's a group of freshmen by the door to the front office and I haven't terrorized anyone with my beauty in weeks."

Jessica laughs and gladly links her arm with Lauren's as they head to class.

This girl is ridiculous, but she's been Jessica's best friend since eighth grade, so it's too late to back out now.

Luckily, she doesn't really want to.

…

Government passes without incident.

As they get closer to the end of the period, Lauren begins to send her suggestive looks, but Jessica ignores them with practiced ease.

She spends the walk to English trying to psych herself up for the conversation that's coming. She knows that getting Edward to talk won't be easy, but she's determined, and she's been told that she's very good at wearing people down.

Once she reaches the door, she pauses to take a deep breath and then opens the door.

She can do this. It's just Edward, she tells herself, as if Edward has ever been just anything.

She smiles at Mr. Collins and then turns to begin the march toward her desk, only…

Edward isn't there. And if he isn't in his desk by now, then he's not going to be there at all.

Well, fuck.

Now what?

...

By the time Jessica gets to their table at lunch, Bella has already noticed that Edward isn't sitting with the rest of the Cullen siblings.

"Do you think something's wrong?" she asks.

Jessica frowns and looks over at their table. They don't look concerned, but then, they rarely look anything other than disinterested in everything that's going on around them. They're not eating again, just like every other day they've been here. As she watches them now, she can't help but wonder why they never eat or drink, even if she's pretty much accepted it as normal until now. Edward's strange behavior yesterday has made everything he and his family do stand out in sharp relief.

She'll have to take some time to write everything down later. Maybe it'll help explain some things.

"Jessica?" Bella asks, and she quickly jerks her gaze away from where she's been staring at the Cullens, lost in thought.

"I don't know," she says. "Edward wasn't in English today, but this wouldn't be the first time he's missed class."

"Yeah, but usually if one of them is gone it means the whole family has left town for a couple days," Mike says.

"What do you mean?" Bella asks, leaning toward Mike across the table.

Mike looks pleased by the attention and Jessica isn't in the mood for mindless chatter today, so she sits back and lets the conversation wash over her. She hasn't known until now to be bothered by all the strange things about the Cullens, but now she can't help but notice them.

"It's super weird," Mike says. "Whenever the weather gets nice, Dr. Cullen pulls the entire family out of school and they go camping."

Jessica frowns and turns to look out the windows. The sky is covered with a thick layer of clouds today and there's no chance of sun. It hasn't started to rain yet, but she's sure it will start anytime now. She narrows her eyes as she thinks. Something about what Mike just said doesn't sound right. Or, if it is right, it's not complete.

"Only when the sun's out," she adds. Mike and Bella turn to look at her, and she clears her throat. "The Cullens are only taken out of school when it's sunny."

"Right," Mike says with a laugh. "Like I said, when the weather gets nice, they go camping. No one's really sure why and the school stopped complaining within a couple months. I guess as long as they keep doing well in class no one really cares how much they miss."

"Which is totally against school rules," Eric adds as he sets his tray down between Mike and Jessica. She scoots over obligingly. "But the Cullens get away with it. Take a guess why."

Bella looks back over at the Cullens and frowns.

"It's not exactly nice weather, though, so why would Edward be gone today?" she asks

"I don't know," Mike says. "Maybe there's some family shit he has to deal with."

"But wouldn't all of them be gone, then?"

"Why do you care so much?" Eric asks with a sullen look on his face.

"Yeah it's not that big of a deal. So Cullen misses a day, so what?" Mike says. He shrugs when Bella frowns at him. "What? It's true! It's not that big of a deal!"

"Well, he was acting really weird in bio yesterday, wasn't he?" Bella asks. "Maybe it has something to do with that." And well, Jessica can hardly let Bella blame herself for whatever is going on with Edward, even if it probably is because of her in some way.

"Bella," she says. "You can't actually think this is your fault."

"But what if it is?" Bella asks. Jessica shakes her head. It's totally her fault, but she's not gonna admit that out loud.

"But what if it isn't?" Lauren says from where she's sitting a few seats down from Bella. "You literally just got here. There's no way it has anything to do with you." Jessica smiles at her and Lauren winks. Mike and Eric stare, not used to Lauren being anything but caustic to the people around her.

Before they can comment on it, however, Angela sits down next to Bella.

"Sorry I'm late," she says. "I had to stay back and talk to one of my teachers about the group project he's assigning next month."

"Of course you did," Jessica says fondly. Angela rolls her eyes at Jessica and looks around the table.

"So, what'd I miss?"

"Bella thinks that she scared Edward Cullen away from Forks," Lauren says as she flicks her hair back over one shoulder. Jessica tries to imagine Bella, who's only a few inches taller than her, trying to intimidate Edward who is easily over six feet tall. Somehow, she can't quiet see her succeeding, but it's definitely an image to remember.

"That's not what I said," Bella protests. "All I'm saying is, isn't it a little bit strange that the day after he reacts so strongly to me in bio he just leaves with no explanation?"

"I thought we talked about this yesterday," Angela says. "Whatever happened with Edward is in no way your fault. Besides, if something was wrong, the rest of the Cullens would be worried about it too, but they don't look like anything's bothering them."

"I guess," Bella says. She doesn't sound very convinced, but she finally drops it. Jessica wonders if this is how she sounded when she was complaining about Edward to Lauren this morning. If so, she has an apology to make.

The rest of lunch is spent discussing the upcoming weekend. Jessica has a game early on Saturday, but she promises she'll do her best to make it to Tyler's house that night to hang out. When they invite Bella, the other girl stammers her way through declining the invitation, and Jessica snorts. She's not sure if Bella already has plans for that night or if she just doesn't want to spend more time with them than she has to. Both are equally plausible.

A few minutes before Jessica was planning to leave to head to class, she feels a tap on her shoulder. She looks over to see Tyler standing hopefully behind her.

"Can we talk?" he asks. "I need some advice." He's clearly embarrassed, looking around shiftily to make sure no one sees his moment of vulnerability.

"Yeah, of course." No one is paying any attention to her, so she grabs her tray and he walks with her to put it away and then head out the doors. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I've noticed that Mike likes Bella." Jessica laughs and shakes her head.

"Yeah, you and literally everybody else," she says.

"Do you think she likes him back?"

"I don't think so. I mean, I can't know for sure but from what I've seen she's mostly just a little annoyed by his attention." Jessica isn't sure she likes where this is going.

"Oh," Tyler says. "Good."

"Wait, are you serious? You like her too?" Jessica asks. She was right, she definitely doesn't like this. First Mike and Eric, now Tyler? Unbelievable. There is no way this is normal. Don't get her wrong, she has nothing against Bella, but Jessica would be willing to bet that if Bella weren't the new girl, these boys wouldn't be paying her this much attention. She knows it's probably a little mean of her to think so, but then, she's a little mean, so it all works out. She's only human, after all, she's allowed to feel a little jealous. Even Edward was staring at her yesterday, before he went all weird, of course.

"Yes." He sounds defensive, so Jessica forces a laugh and raises her hands in surrender.

"Hey, no judgement here. I was just surprised. It seems like everyone likes her." Tyler nods when he hears her explanation and then narrows his eyes as he looks at her.

"You're being very nice about this," he says suspiciously.

"Well, I figure I owe you for making you listen to me whine about Edward this morning." Besides, she's pretty sure he wouldn't appreciate her telling him he has absolutely no chance.

"Oh yeah. I bet you were mad when you walked in and saw all that worrying was for nothing." Jessica glares and Tyler wraps an arm around her shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Jess. You'll get your chance."

"Thanks," she says, not bothering to inform him that she's not actually waiting for a chance, thank you very much. She's just fine the way she is. Boys are gross, and she's much better off without them.

"And speaking of chances, do you think I have one with Bella?" Tyler asks. Jessica sighs. She supposes she can't blame Tyler for liking Bella. She's pretty, after all, even if it's in a plain, understated kind of way. But really, all after one day? She's still not entirely convinced that every boy having a crush on Bella isn't some sort of conspiracy. If Lauren comes to her to confess a crush on the new girl too, Jessica might just have a conniption.

"Well that depends." She finally answers when he begins to fidget, wringing his hands together nervously.

"On?" he prompts when she doesn't continue.

"Have you said more than two words to her before today?" Tyler freezes, and Jessica takes a few more steps before she notices he's stopped moving. Once she realizes he's no longer beside her, she turns to look at him. No way, she thinks when she sees the sheepish look on his face. Is this shit for real? She crosses her arms and begins tapping her foot, staring him down.

"No," Tyler admits reluctantly.

"Right, well, in that case, I'd say wait on any romantic advances." She shakes her head. Sometimes boys manage to astound her. "If she doesn't even remember your name, you won't get very far."

"Damn," Tyler mutters, as if it hadn't even occurred to him that he should talk to Bella at least once before asking her out. Jessica laughs and wraps her arms around his waist. It's cute, really. It's pathetic too, but Tyler's her friend so she supposes she can let it slide.

"Chin up, buttercup," she says. He smiles down at her and pulls her into a real hug. "Just give it some time. Any girl would be lucky to date you."

"Thanks," Tyler says with a small smile. "You too. I mean-" Jessica just laughs and he shakes his head with a snort. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do." She presses a kiss to his cheek and smiles when he ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck. "I'm rooting for you."

"Not Mike?" he asks, surprised. "But he's one of your best friends."

"And what do you think you are, dumbass?" She shakes her head. Honestly, she works out with him almost every day and they meet up for their morning runs more than they run them solo. What even are boys? "Of course, ultimately it'll be up to Bella, but you're a cool guy. Just let her get to know you before doing anything drastic and you'll be fine."

"You think so?" Tyler asks. "Maybe you should keep telling me how cool I am. It's really helping me work through this."

"Oh my god," Jessica mutters. "Come on, the bell is gonna ring in five minutes and I don't want to be late."

They walk back to the more populated school grounds and Jessica waves as he heads off to government before ducking into bio a few seconds before the bell rings.

…

The rest of the day passes quickly. By the time gym ends, Bella is still preoccupied by Edward being gone from school, but Jessica has decided to try not to let it bother her. He has to come back eventually, after all.

She meets up with Tyler after school and they head to the small but well equipped rec center near the edge of town. Neither of them are feeling very motivated today, but Jessica quickly loses herself in the movement and the burn of her muscles. By the time they agree to be done for the day and finish showering off, Jessica is feeling much better about everything.

Upon getting home, she immediately begins her homework so she can spend some time later searching for colleges to apply to in the fall.

By the time her mom comes home from work, Jessica has finished all of her work for the night and has moved on to cleaning her room. Before long, however, cleaning turns into napping, and when her mom walks in to check on her, she's curled up over the covers with a blanket wrapped around her and only a single corner of her room is noticeably neater.

Her mom sits on the edge of her bed to kiss her forehead, and Jessica groans, twisting into a stretch that leaves her mom's back twinging in sympathy.

"Hey sleepyhead," her mom says softly when Jessica rolls over to look up at her.

"Time s'it?" Jessica asks, rubbing a hand across her cheek and making a disgusted face when she feels a line of drool. Her mom laughs and brushes her hand across Jessica's hair where it's spread out against the bedspread.

"It's about five, now. Do you want to come downstairs or stay up and nap for a bit longer?"

"I'll come down," Jessica says. "I want to talk to you about some stuff."

"Alright, I have to change but I'll meet you once I'm done." With that, her mom leaves to change out of her work clothes and Jessica rolls out of bed. She looks despairingly at her still messy room before shaking her head and heading downstairs. She can finish cleaning her room later.

She gets a glass of water for herself and sits at the kitchen counter, tapping out a rhythm against the wooden countertop as she waits.

"Now," Jessica's mom says as she walks through the doorway. "What's got you so worked up that you had to nap the afternoon away?" Jessica sighs.

"It's about a boy, sort of." Her mom looks surprised and Jessica nods. "Yeah. Remember the time I came home and immediately started crying all over you about the boy who turned me down in front of the entire school?"

"Of course I remember. I was ready to hunt that boy down and give him a piece of my mind for leaving you in such a state."

"Right, well. It's entirely possible that I might not be as over him as I thought."

"Oh, Jessica. It's alright." Her mom reaches across the counter to hold her hand. "You know, your father and I started off the same way. I asked him out within a few minutes of meeting him and he ran scared. We didn't actually start dating for a couple years."

"You know, I appreciate the thought, but that's not as reassuring as you probably think it is."

"Oh? Why not?" her mom asks with an eyebrow raised.

"Mom, you guys got divorced within five years of getting married."

"Oh, pish. That's not important." Her mom waves her hand as if she's swatting away a fly.

"It is, actually," Jessica protests laughingly.

"No, what's important is that what you're feeling is normal. It's okay to let yourself like a boy, Jess. You don't need to be scared." Jessica sighs and rests her forehead against the countertop. She'd love to tell her mom that she's not at all scared, but she knows that she is, even if just a little bit. "Don't worry about it, Jess," her mom says. "You'll be okay. What will come, will come. All that matters is how you deal with it."

"Thanks," Jessica says. She props her chin up on her hand and sighs. "I think there's something wrong with him, though." At her mom's curious look, she continues. "As soon as he saw Bella yesterday he freaked out. It was actually a little scary."

"Hmm, and I suppose you confronted him about it as soon as you saw him next?" Jessica gives her a sheepish smile and her mom shakes her head. "Why am I not surprised?"

"I can't help that I'm naturally curious," Jessica says. "If anything it's your fault. I got it from you."

"Of course," her mom allows with a grin. "Blame the hard-working woman who slaves away all day at her job, working day in and day out to make sure you have a home, food on the table, and clothes on your back."

"Oh my god, Mom," Jessica says through her laughter. "Okay. I take it back, it's not your fault at all."

"Speaking of hard-working," her mom says and Jessica groans.

"Yes," she says. "I finished my homework and I even looked at some more colleges for next year."

Her mom nods approvingly before gesturing for Jessica to get up and help her as she pushes away from where she's leaning against the countertop to make dinner. "Now, grab the measuring cups from the drawer, will you? I'm thinking we should have pancakes tonight." Jessica complies happily and her mom places a warm hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "Oh, and don't worry too much about that boy, alright? It'll all work itself out."


	5. Chapter 4

The situation between her and Edward does not work itself out because Edward doesn't appear in school all week.

Bella, at least, seems happy about it. She's no longer so tense whenever they get close to the bio classroom. Unfortunately for Jessica, all this means is that she has more time to spend thinking about Edward and what to do about him. By the time the weekend comes, she's convinced herself that she's blown this entirely out of proportion, and that above all she needs to chill.

Saturday passes quickly. She wins her game and even manages to get to Tyler's house on time to hang out with everyone. Sunday is spent recovering from Saturday and spending some more time researching journalism programs in the area.

And then she gets to class on Monday. Throughout government, she's forced to endure the playful teasing from Lauren. Nothing new, really, Lauren's been coming up with increasingly annoying ways of needling her pretty much all last week too. At least it's started snowing, Jessica thinks as she heads to her next class. She's looking forward to hitting Lauren with the biggest snowball she can make when she sees her next.

When she walks into English, however, she's forced to consider that she actually does deserves that teasing. In fact, she almost stumbles when she walks through the door before catching herself on the doorframe and continuing as if nothing happened.

Edward is sitting at his desk as if he'd never been gone.

She does her best to appear calm as she makes her way to her desk, but she can't help the nervous anticipation. It's one thing to tell everyone that she's going to talk to him again. It's another matter entirely to actually do it. Not to mention the fact that she really can't deny anymore how much she actually likes him. It's ridiculous and embarrassing, but denial is worse, so she just has to deal with it.

She can feel Edward watching her as she settles into her desk, and she's sure he knows exactly what he's doing to her. If she isn't careful, she's gonna turn into Mike 2.0.

"You're back." Jessica winces as soon as the words leave her mouth. God, talk about stating the obvious. But she can't help it and she's positive that if he doesn't relax then he's gonna break his jaw with how tightly it's clenched. Not to mention the way tension is visible in every line of his body. She's all for good posture, but the way he's holding his shoulders so tight looks painful. Besides, you'd think a week off school would help someone relax, but sitting next to him while he's like this feels almost like she's gone back in time to the day before he left.

Edward sighs and glances at her from the side of his eyes before jerking his head in what could pass as a nod.

Jessica drums her fingernails against the desk. Really, it's none of her business. They're not friends, as much as she'd like to be. But when Jessica had to miss almost a week of school last month due to a rather serious concussion, Edward had asked her if she was feeling better and then gone out of his way to be almost kind to her the entire next week.

So.

Apparently her conscious has decided that there's nothing to do but at least try to return the favor. It's super.

"Are you okay?" she asks. He doesn't respond. "Edward, seriously. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he bites out.

"Really." She makes a point to say it as dryly as possible. She told Lauren that she'd at least try to be civil, but she doesn't think her friend would mind if she broke her promise just a little. She remembers how angry he'd looked as he left the front office last week and frowns. "Because Bella said-"

"I don't really care what Bella said, Jessica. I'm fine."

"But-"

"Just leave it alone."

"I just-"

"No."

"Stop interrupting me!" She hits the surface of his desk with her open palm, and does her best to ignore the hush that falls over the other people in the classroom. Luckily, they're used to witnessing Jessica and Edward snapping at each other, and the murmur of quiet conversation resumes quickly.

Edward, however, is still staring at her, as if he can't believe she just yelled at him and that he's actually going to do as she said.

"Good," she says, when he doesn't try to say anything. "I want you to listen carefully. I know we're not friends and I know that you don't particularly like me. It's fine. But when the person I've been sitting next to for months now just disappears for an entire week I notice, okay?"

Jessica waits for a response. When it doesn't come she rolls her eyes and turns to look at the front of the room to wait for class to start. After their conversation outside the front office last week, she'd honestly hoped something between them had changed, that maybe they really could be friends. Clearly, she was wrong. And worst of all, she didn't even get to find out what happened to make him so upset that day.

Once the bell rings, Mr. Collins sets down his notes for today's class and moves to stand at the front of the classroom. From the look he sends her as he's instructing the class to take out their books, she knows that he hadn't been so distracted by his preparation that he didn't witness her outburst. Luckily, Mr. Collins likes her because she's always able to contribute something worthwhile to in class discussions, so she knows he'll wait until class is over if he wants to ask what is going on.

It isn't until class has ended that Edward leans in to say something to her. Jessica doesn't look up at him, but she does pause in putting her notebook away into her bag in order to listen.

"What makes you think I don't like you?" he asks, and she can feel his breath against her ear. It's not as unpleasant of a feeling as she thinks it probably should be.

Jessica freezes. She must have heard him wrong. He sounded teasing, almost playful, and there's no way that Edward Cullen, who's practically embodied stoicism since the day they met, could have said that. Of course, there was his strange behavior last week, but... No, it's impossible.

And yet, when she finally manages to snap her head up to look at him, he's stood up from his desk and is sauntering, actually _sauntering_ , toward the door. Once he reaches it, he looks over his shoulder at her, and the smile on his face is most definitely smug. It's... Well, it's not exactly a bad look on him. Of course it isn't. That would make this much too easy for her.

"Jessica," Mr. Collins says when she heads for the door, "Stay behind for a moment, please." Jessica sighs but does as he asks, sitting on top of one of the desks while the rest of the students leave.

When they're the only ones left in the room, Mr. Collins clears his throat, straightening the pile of papers on his desks before looking up at her.

"Now, I'm only going to ask this once," he says sternly. Jessica nods and tries to look like she actually gives a shit about whatever he's going to say. She knows without a doubt that this is about her and Edward. "Do you think you can handle sitting next to Edward, or do I need to separate you two?" Okay, so not exactly what she thought he was going to ask, but at least she was partially right.

"Can I handle it?" Jessica asks, not quite managing to hide the derision in her voice. "What exactly are you asking?"

"Miss Stanley, I do have eyes. I know how you girls act around him. You've always been different, but after today I'm starting to wonder if it might be better to have him sit next to someone else."

Jessica doesn't even know where to start. She knows Mr. Collins doesn't mean to sound condescending as hell, he's one of her favorite teachers for a reason after all, but still. She's feeling a little insulted. She frowns and says, "And by someone else you mean a guy."

"Well," he says. "I believe that would be the safest way to avoid distraction in my classroom, yes."

"Don't worry, sir," she says. She knows there's no use telling him how Edward provoked her. If Mr. Collins cared that much about the cause of her outburst, Edward would be here sitting here too. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"Alright," he says, seeming satisfied for now. "Here, let me write a pass for you. What's your next class?"

…

All throughout Spanish and trig, Bella glares periodically out the window at the snow that falls steadily. Whenever someone begins chatting excitedly in her general vicinity about snowball fights, she snorts in disgust and shakes her head violently, as if she can already feel the snow melting down her neck.

Jessica thinks it's hilarious, but she doesn't say anything when Bella turns her dark glare upon her. As they walk to lunch, Bella clutches her binder to her chest, ready to use it as a shield should any snowball threaten to hit her. Jessica longs to join the students who've started a free for all battle, but it isn't until she sees Lauren that she finally gives in to her impulse.

She bends down to grab a handful of snow and Bella frowns.

"Jessica," she says slowly. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Jessica asks. She packs the snow into a ball with hands that are already turning red and Bella looks around, trying to find her target. Jessica doesn't wait for her to catch on. Instead, she launches the snowball toward Lauren's back. Without bothering to make sure it will hit her, Jessica is very confident in her abilities to aim, she grabs Bella's hand and runs toward the cafeteria.

Bella gasps, almost slipping on the packed snow on the sidewalk, but Jessica manages to keep her upright. She hears Lauren's yell of shocked outrage and cackles as she runs, breathless elation making her feel warm despite the snow that covers everything. She can vaguely hear Bella calling her all sorts of rude names in protest, but she's too happy to care.

They burst through the cafeteria doors, Jessica still laughing with reckless abandon and Bella gasping for breath, as if she can't believe that just happened. They slide a little on the wet floor, and Jessica clings to Bella to keep herself from falling. Once they stabilize themselves, Bella rests a single hand on Jessica's shoulder and looks into her eyes solemnly.

"You are the most ridiculous person I know," she says. "Also everyone is staring."

Jessica looks around and lets out a helpless giggle when she sees a fair amount of people watching incredulously. Even the Cullens are staring, although Edward is the only one looking with any kind of intent. She decides to be brave and waves at him, smiling cheekily when he startles, as if she wasn't supposed to catch him looking. She can feel her face flushed with exertion and her hair must be such a mess, half-wet from melted snowflakes, but she finds it hard to care.

Even Lauren stomping through the doors with an annoyed frown isn't enough to ruin her mood, and she allows Bella to drag her toward the lunch line with a giddy feeling bubbling in her chest.

Once they get to their table, it is decided that Jessica and Lauren have to be separated for everyone's safety. Especially once discussions about the snowball fights start. Jessica is in the middle of teasing Mike about how his hair is sticking flat against his forehead instead of in its usual spikes when she notices Bella staring intently at something beyond their table. With a sinking feeling, she follows Bella's line of sight as well as she can. Naturally, she's watching the Cullens.

"Bella, what are you looking at?" she asks.

Bella blushes but doesn't answer. Eric leans over, looking very bitter.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," he says to Bella. Jessica looks up at this moment, and she'd be willing to swear on her life that he's staring at her, not Bella, with his light golden eyes.

Wait, she thinks. That's not right, is it?

Before she can even finish that thought, Edward's gaze flashes to Bella and Jessica frowns. There's something wrong here, she knows it, but she can't quite pin it down. She remembers the way he'd watched her last week and it hits her.

His eyes were dark, almost black, not gold. And now?

Jessica shakes her head. She knows that lighting can make blue eyes look green or grey, but turning black into gold? It's not possible. It shouldn't be possible.

"He doesn't look angry, does he?" Bella asks.

"No," Eric says, confused. "Should he be?"

"I don't think he likes me." She sounds upset as she says it, and Jessica can't help but wonder why. They haven't even talked once, surely it can't be that big of a deal.

"The Cullens don't like anybody," Mike says, finally joining the conversation.

"They don't really notice anyone enough to like them," Eric adds, leaning forward as if to block Mike from Bella's view. Jessica remembers when she used to think that too. She's starting to understand, however, that Eric's words might not be the absolute truth. She looks back to Edward and he meets her gaze again.

"He's still staring at you," she says, not exactly sure why she's lying. Edward looks frustrated, and Jessica turns physically away from him. Everything about him is too much to deal with right now.

"Stop looking at him," Bella hisses. Jessica wants to snap at her but holds back. She's not angry at Bella. She's not really _angry_ at anyone. She's just irritated in general, and if she didn't have volleyball practice right after school, she'd skip the rest of the day.

…

During bio, Edward makes a point to be polite to Bella.

Normally, Jessica would be too focused on her own work to worry about anyone else, but both she and her partner, Sarah, read the book and pay attention in lecture, so completing the worksheet is in no way a struggle.

For one, Edward offers Bella the microscope to look through instead of trying to do the entire thing himself. Sure, he checks her work and they take turns, but still. Not once has he willingly let her do any of the work in English. In order to do anything on a partner assignment, Jessica practically has to fight him for a chance to write. She also notices that he's smiling pleasantly at Bella whenever he talks. It's very different from the range of annoyance to amusement that Edward normally expresses in Jessica's presence.

She's not jealous, not exactly, but watching them interact makes something within her bristle in wariness. Jessica purses her lips in annoyance at herself and turns her head sharply back to her own microscope. Clearly, she needs to ignore him for the rest of the period. It shouldn't be too hard. She peers through the eyepiece and murmurs quietly with Sarah as they finish the worksheet.

Mr. Banner is patrolling through the room, and she peeks up when he pauses before Bella and Edward. When he finally turns to leave their workbench, Jessica wrenches her gaze away.

"Okay, something's up," Sarah says. Jessica considers lying, but figures there's really no point in trying. Sarah is weirdly perceptive sometimes.

"Yeah," she admits with a sigh. "It's stupid, though."

"Are you gonna make me ask?"

"It's Edward Cullen," Jessica says. Sarah snorts and looks over at him before snapping her gaze back to Jessica with an embarrassed, involuntary squeak. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. He's watching us, or you, probably." She shakes her head.

"What do you mean probably?" Jessica asks.

"Well, you sit next to him in English, right? That means you have to talk to him like, every day. Everyone knows that outside his family, you're the one who knows him best at this school."

"But I don't know him at all." Jessica rolls her eyes and props her chin on her hand.

"Oh really? What makes him happy?"

"Um, I don't know? I guess when he manages to prove the teacher wrong about something?"

"Okay, so you know he's a condescending jerk."

"Everyone knows that," Jessica says.

"No, everyone _thinks_ that." Sarah sounds proud of herself for that distinction and Jessica sighs.

"Okay, I get it, I'm a special snowflake," Jessica says. "Now c'mon, we have one more slide and Mr. Banner is coming this way."

"You're gonna give me a real answer one day, Jessica Stanley," Sarah says. Jessica just smiles and pushes the microscope toward her.

"Sure," she agrees. "In the meantime, why don't you find the answer to this problem?" Sarah rolls her eyes but takes the microscope anyway. They write the final answer just as Mr. Banner comes to check on their progress, and he looks pleased with their work so they spend the rest of the hour working on homework for other classes.

Jessica determinedly doesn't look over at Edward and Bella again. Or, she tells herself she won't, but when Mr. Banner instructs everyone to pass their worksheets to the front, she risks a peek. Instead of seeing them chatting amicably as they have been all hour, Edward is leaning away from Bella, visibly tense even from where Jessica is sitting on the opposite side of the room.

Edward looks over at her then, and this time she holds his gaze. Slowly, the tension in his body begins to ease away as their impromptu staring contest continues, and Jessica frowns.

Interesting.

Just like all of the other weird shit she's been noticing about him lately, she files this away to consider later.

When the bell rings, Edward is once more the first one out of the room.

Jessica follows him at a much slower pace, pausing at the door to let Bella and Mike catch up. Mike is, for some reason, carrying Bella's books. She and Bella share an exasperated look, but Bella makes no move to take her books back so Jessica figures it's not her problem.

"That was awful," Mike says with a groan once they're far enough away from the classroom. "They all looked exactly the same. You're lucky you had Cullen for a partner." Bella shoots him an affronted look, and Jessica doesn't blame her. If anyone tried to insinuate to her that she needs Edward to do her schoolwork, she'd be pissed too.

"I didn't have any trouble with it," Bella says. Then she ruins it. "I've done this lab before, though." Honestly, that girl needs to stop caring so much about other people's feelings.

"I haven't," Jessica adds. "And I thought it was easy enough. Maybe if you actually did the readings before coming to class you'd think so too." Mike glares but Jessica just shrugs. It's true. Mike's a decently smart guy. If he bothered to put the work in, Jessica knows he'd go far.

"Anyway," Mike says. "Cullen seemed friendly enough today." He doesn't sound pleased about it. To be entirely honest, Jessica isn't very pleased either.

Bella, naturally, doesn't have anything useful to say in response to that, and so the rest of the walk to gym is completed in slightly strained silence.

…

Once they get to gym, Jessica makes full use of her irritation to send the other teams scattering as they play a full tournament of volleyball that lasts the entire period. Even better, practice today is spent doing sprints and working on achieving maximum power in their hits.

It soon devolves into a competition of who can hit the ball the farthest, and Jessica takes great pleasure in winning every time.

And if she imagines it's Edward's smug, confusion inducing face on every ball she hits, well…

That's no one's business but her own.


	6. Chapter 5

The next day, the roads are slick with ice.

Jessica leaves home extra early because she knows she has to drive slowly today. Luckily, she gets to school without incident. Soon after she parks, Bella's huge truck rumbles into the parking lot. After getting out of her own car, Jessica waves to her as she heads toward the school and Bella smiles before going through her backpack as she stands next to the door of her truck.

Before Jessica can reach the doors, however, she's sidetracked by hearing her name called.

She's standing with Mike and Lauren near the parking lot, waiting for Tyler to arrive, when it happens. Lauren and Mike are talking about some new movie that came out the other day, but Jessica is too busy doing her best to watch Edward without actually looking like she's watching him.

He's with his family next to his ugly Volvo.

They're all huddled together, looking as gloriously beautiful as ever. It's a strange type of beauty, though. Otherworldly, almost. And although they're all different, Jessica is struck by how similar they look. She's been going to school with them for two years now, but she's never seen them all standing so close to each other, so she supposes she can't be too upset with herself for not noticing before. It's almost as if their beauty is designed to be accepted but not noticed. And, well, she's noticed.

A high-pitched screech interrupts her thoughts, and she jerks her head around to find the source.

Tyler's van is spinning across the pavement, and it's heading straight for Bella. Of course it is. She looks over at Edward, and he's watching Bella with a horrified look on his face. Bella has noticed the van too, but instead of trying to move, she's standing completely still, frozen in the face of oncoming death. No one is doing anything, and the van is still moving.

"Bella!" Jessica finally shrieks. She knows she can't make it to Bella in time to get her out of the way, she's on the other side of the parking lot, after all, but maybe she can startle someone else into action.

Then, there's a sickening crunch of metal. Jessica gasps, already imagining the horrible sight that might await her on the other side of Tyler's van. She's seen the driver's ed videos, she knows what happens when a vehicle that big hits a person. She worries for Tyler too. His van has airbags, thank god, but Tyler's not known for wearing his seatbelt.

Mike is clutching at her arm, and she shakes off his hold before sprinting across the lot to get to Bella, mindful of the ice, shouting back at Lauren to call an ambulance as she goes. Before she can get very far, however, she stumbles to a stop.

Edward Cullen is on the ground next to Bella, kneeling beside her with his hand on her forehead.

Jessica looks back to where the rest of his family is still standing at his car, with frowns ranging from vague disapproval to outright disgust on their faces, and then back to Edward.

Somehow, he managed to cross the entire parking lot within the span of a few seconds. And she's willing to bet that he stopped the van, too.

The rest of the student body catches up to her, then, and she's jostled out of her thoughts by the rush of people, each trying to get close enough to see what happened. Before anything can get too crazy, emergency services arrives and takes control of the situation. Jessica tries to get close enough to make sure that Bella and Tyler are fine, but all they'll tell her is that they're going to the hospital, and both should be completely fine.

She knows it's the best she's gonna get here, so she thanks them and gets out of their way.

Of course, before she can leave, she gets a glimpse of Edward climbing into an ambulance too. He looks completely fine, as if the last few minutes didn't even happen. Before the ambulance doors close, he manages to meet her gaze, and she gulps. Then the doors finally close and the ambulance drives away, leaving the school staff to try and corral the students into their classes.

Jessica follows their directions mindlessly, too preoccupied with what she saw to protest.

All throughout government, she's distracted. But most of the class is in the same state, so Lauren doesn't mention it. It's not often that anything exciting happens in Forks, and even though said exciting event is a girl almost being killed by a van, people are ecstatic to have something to talk about. The teachers try valiantly to get their students to focus, but eventually they assign filler work that requires no real effort, knowing that for now, they'll not be able to do anything productive with their students. Jessica would feel bad, but she's too busy replaying the scene in the parking lot in her mind. Once the period ends, she grabs Lauren's arm and pulls her aside.

"I need to talk to Bella," she says. Lauren, upon seeing how serious she is, doesn't question her. She's known Jessica long enough to not bother attempting to question her in this state. The questions will come later. Jessica is grateful since more time will allow her to come up with answers for the questions Lauren will inevitable ask.

"Alright," Lauren says. "She'll probably be out of the hospital by now, and I'm sure Chief Swan took her home."

"Right, and knowing Bella, she forced him to go back to work so she's home alone right now." Jessica's mostly talking to herself now, but Lauren, always the more practical of the two, is quick to draw her back.

"Are you sure skipping is worth it?" Lauren asks.

"Yeah," Jessica says. "We're doing independent reading in English today so I won't be missing anything. I should be back before third period." She's sure Edward will notice her absence if he gets back to school in time, but she's sure she can avoid him if he tries to bother her. Normally, she'd be more skeptical, but she knows what she saw. She trusts herself. Besides, this is partly why she wants to visit Bella. She needs to know what the other girl thinks.

Lauren leaves to head to class and Jessica watches her go. The good thing about the layout of Forks High School is how easy it is to sneak out. There's no security, and nowhere you need to sign out before you can leave. She sighs and heads for the parking lot. Everything has been cleared away during first period, dark skid marks on the pavement the only evidence of the accident earlier.

She leaves the school lot with no problem and gets to Bella's house in record time. The police cruiser is gone from the driveway, so she feels comfortable going straight up to the front door to knock. She doesn't have to wait long for the door to open, and she is greeted with Bella's surprised face.

"Jessica?" she asks. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, first things first, are you alright?" Obviously she wouldn't be out of the hospital if she wasn't, but Jessica figures asking is the polite thing to do before leaping into the true reason she's here.

"Yeah I'm fine," Bella answers. "Tyler's the one who was really injured." She peers skeptically at Jessica, as if asking why she came to visit Bella when one of her best friends is still in the hospital, most likely alone.

"I'll visit Tyler after school," Jessica says. Bella nods and they stare awkwardly at each other. "Can I come in?" Jessica finally asks. She'd rather not have this conversation on the front step where any of the neighbors could see and report her presence to Chief Swan.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Bella steps back and opens the door wider, and Jessica follows her gratefully. The door swings shut behind her as she toes off her shoes. Bella leads her into the living room and Jessica sinks into the cushions at the end of the couch. "So, what's this about?" Bella asks.

Jessica isn't sure how to start.

"Well," she says. "I need to talk to you about something, and I need you to be completely honest." As confident as she is in what she saw, she'd appreciate the confirmation from another source.

"Okay," Bella says. She crosses one leg over the other. "What do you want to talk about?"

Instead of trying to beat around the bush, Jessica decides to jump right in.

"Edward shouldn't have been able to save you," she says. Bella's head snaps up from where she was looking down at her fidgeting hands, and Jessica stares solemnly at her. "He was standing on the other side of the parking lot before Tyler's van even started heading for you."

"I know," Bella says uncomfortably. "I saw him there too, but then in a second he was right in front of me, stopping the van with his bare hands. He didn't have even a scratch on him when the ambulance took him to the hospital. I think his dad, Dr. Cullen, is in on it." She says it all in a rush, sounding more nervous as she goes.

"What's wrong?" Jessica asks. Bella bites her lip.

"I promised Edward I wouldn't talk to anyone about it," she says. "But you saw it too. I'm not crazy."

"Edward talked to you about what you saw?" Jessica asks. How out of character of him, she thinks. As long as she's known him, he's not once given up information he doesn't want anyone to know.

"Sort of." Bella runs a nervous hand through her hair, uncrossing and then recrossing her legs. "I confronted him about it, but he refused to tell me anything and then basically told me that he wishes he hadn't saved me."

"What?" Jessica asks, outraged on behalf of her friend.

"I mean, he didn't say that exactly." She sounds relieved to be able to tell someone about what happened. "But when I asked him why he bothered to save me if he was gonna be so pissy about it, he said he doesn't know."

"Wow." Jessica shakes her head. The first part she can understand, but Edward telling Bella that he isn't sure why he saved her life? That's unexpected. And a little strange. Jessica can't help but think about why. Clearly, he didn't want to reveal his speed or strength. And yet, he had to have known that saving Bella would put him at risk. She's positive that whatever power he has, his siblings must have too. So, if they could have saved her, why didn't they? Something made Edward save Bella, something that doesn't compel the rest of his siblings to act the same way.

"Yeah, he promised me an explanation, but…"

Jessica snorts.

"Don't hold your breath," she says. "Edward's one of the most cryptic fuckers I've ever met. If he doesn't want to tell you something, there's nothing you can do to change his mind. And if he hasn't told you yet, it's very likely that he never will."

Bella sighs. Jessica feels herself smile and reaches out to nudge at Bella's shoulder.

"Hey," Jessica says. "At least you know you're not crazy. After all, I saw everything too. That means no matter what Edward said, you saw the truth. You just need to remember that."

"I guess." Bella sighs. "You know, when I moved here I thought this town would be boring."

"Hey, before you got here, it was," Jessica says with a laugh. "Don't blame Forks for this."

"That settles it," Bella says dryly as she lets her head fall back to rest on the back of the couch. "I'm cursed."

"It's not your fault Tyler almost hit you with his van," Jessica says. From what she's seen, she's pretty sure that Bella has severe guilt issues, and she'd prefer to nip this in the bud right here. Bella scoffs.

"I know, but it's a little weird, isn't it?"

"Well, I guess?" Jessica says before shaking her head. "Not really though. The pavement was ridiculously icy. It's not a surprise that someone lost control of their car." Bella purses her lips but doesn't protest. She looks over to the clock on the wall and frowns.

"What time do you have to get back?" Bella asks. Jessica checks the time and jumps up from her spot on the couch.

"Shit!" She runs to the front door and hurries to shove her shoes back on, gathering her backpack at the same time. Bella follows at a more sedate pace. "Anyway," Jessica says as she finally gets her shoes on the right feet, "Don't let Edward get you down next time you see him, alright?"

"Same to you," Bella says. Jessica smiles at her and then rushes out the door to her car. If she hurries, she'll be able to get back a couple minutes before third period starts.

"I'll tell everyone you're doing fine at lunch!" she calls back over her shoulder. Bella waves and Jessica closes the car door and speeds away from the curb where she parked.

She makes it to her desk just before the bell rings, and when the teacher sends her a dirty look, she just smiles sweetly. She doesn't care if her teacher is annoyed with her. She's got much more important things to think about.

…

"Bella says hi," Jessica says as she places her tray on the table. Mike perks up from where he's poking listlessly at today's mystery food and leans toward her.

"You went to see Bella? When?" he asks. Angela looks curious too, but Jessica suspects it's for a different reason.

"I went during second period," she says. "And before you get any ideas about visiting her too, she was really tired and is probably napping now, so it'd suck if you went and woke her since traumatic experiences can be very tiring."

It's complete bullshit, of course. Bella was in no way traumatized by almost getting hit by a van and would probably be insulted if anyone tried to tell her she was, but Mike doesn't need to know that. Mike nods in response.

"Right," he says. "Did you hear anything about Tyler?" Well, Jessica thinks, at least he's not completely lost on Bella.

"No," she replies. "I'm going to visit him in the hospital after school though. Ya'll should come with." Angela and Ben are busy after school, but Eric, Mike, and Lauren agree to come with her.

"Thank god Bella wasn't injured," Angela says after a short pause. "I thought for sure she would be seriously hurt when I saw the van heading for her."

"Yeah, people are saying that Cullen pulled her out of the way," Mike says. The normal distaste for Edward is missing. Apparently, saving his current love interest is enough to make Edward more tolerable to Mike. Jessica's sure that it'll go back to normal once Edward and Bella are back to sitting next to each other in bio every day.

"I know. It's so weird though," Angela replies. "I mean, I didn't see him until after the van had already stopped." Jessica frowns down that the table. To tell or not to tell?

"Jessica." She looks up to see everyone staring at her after Lauren says her name.

"What?" she asks, wincing when she hears how defensive it sounds. Lauren raises an eyebrow and Jessica makes a face. Luckily, Lauren doesn't call her out on it, clearly remembering her urgent need to talk to Bella from earlier.

"We were just wondering if you saw Edward this morning. None of us saw him next to Bella before," Mike says. Jessica wants to bristle, to ask them why she of all people would have seen Edward, but she refrains. They don't know that she likes him, so reacting as if they do won't help. She doesn't need the teasing that them knowing would result in.

"No," she says after a pause just short of awkward. "I saw Bella alone by her truck when I came over to talk to you and Angela, but Edward probably walked over to talk to her after that."

So, apparently she's not telling. That's probably the wisest option, all things considered. She's not entirely sure what the Cullens are, but it's clear to her that they aren't human. Whatever they are, she doesn't want to go making them mad by drawing attention to them.

Everyone seems to accept her answer, and they go back to discussing the accident. Jessica is too distracted to really contribute, but she makes the necessary sounds of agreement and curiosity. She feels restless still. She's been hoping that her talk with Bella would be enough to hold her over until she can get home and think in peace, but this knowledge about the Cullens, however vague it may be, leaves her fidgeting helplessly. She wants to do something, but until she can get herself alone with Bella again, she knows she needs to keep it to herself.

She could always try talking to Edward, of course, but she's not willing to do that to herself so early on. Talking to Edward can be like holding a conversation with a brick wall sometimes, and she knows that this isn't something he'll be forthcoming about. Hell, if he wouldn't even tell Bella, the girl he _saved_ , about what's going on, then what chance does she have of getting him to confess? She sighs and pushes her tray away. For some reason, she's not feeling very hungry.

"Hey guys," she says. "I think I'm gonna head to class early." Lauren and Angela share a knowing look before nodding, but Mike frowns.

"Do you want me to come with?" he asks. Jessica shakes her head.

"No, everything's fine. I'm just not hungry," she says. Mike raises an eyebrow but when Lauren jabs him in the arm with her elbow, not even trying to be discreet if the defiant look she sends Jessica says anything, he acquiesces.

"Alright," he says. "I'll see you there."

Jessica smiles in thanks and picks her tray up to go. As she walks out the doors, she looks back to the Cullens' table. If asked why, she wouldn't tell, but she knows what she's hoping to see.

Edward isn't there.

Jessica frowns in confusion and shakes her head. She could have sworn he was sitting there earlier. Whatever. She doesn't need to see him. She doesn't even _want_ to see him. Why would she?

With an annoyed huff of breath, she stalks toward the bio classroom. She needs to be away from people for a while, and Mr. Banner spends his lunches in the teacher's lounge, so she can sit in the classroom in peace. One great thing about small towns, she thinks as she pushes open the door, is that the teachers aren't afraid to leave the classroom doors unlocked. There's no one else in the room, thankfully. She's not the only one who tends to come here when she needs to think.

She sets her bag on the top of the workbench and takes a seat on her stool, slumping forward to lean her head against the hard surface. The workbench is cool against her cheek, and she taps out a rhythm with her fingers. Her breathing slows and she closes her eyes, not daring to fall asleep but not holding herself as tense as before. She doesn't actually get any thinking done. Before she can fall too deep into a meditative state, she hears the door open behind her.

She stifles a groan against her arm and pushes herself up to sit straight on the stool. She looks back over her shoulder and can't help the reflexive catch in her breath when she sees Edward standing in the doorway.

"Mind if I come in?" he asks, a charming smile on his face. Jessica sighs.

"Go for it," she says, beckoning him forward with a careless wave. His smile shifts into something bigger, making his eyes crinkle in amusement, and Jessica pauses to appreciate the view. Normally, she wouldn't allow herself to be caught dead admiring a boy, especially if that boy is Edward Cullen, but she supposes she won't fight it this time. There's nothing wrong with liking how someone looks, after all.

"How was your morning?" Edward asks after a long enough pause that Jessica had started to hope they might just sit in silence after all.

"It was fine. Why?" She knows exactly why he's asking, but why make it easy?

"Oh, no reason." He's playing with her and she knows it. Jessica glares, but Edward just chuckles. He actually _chuckles_. Jessica didn't think that was a thing real people did. When she doesn't respond soon enough, Edward continues. "I'd noticed you weren't in English, is all."

"Oh, yeah." Jessica nods. "I wasn't feeling it today."

"Really," he says, and she can feel the judgment in his tone. Jessica has to stifle a snort.

"Really," she confirms. She gives him her best innocent expression, all wide eyes and pouty lips. It has gotten her out of much trouble in her life. He looks reluctantly amused before schooling his expression into something resembling stern again.

"Jessica." Oh shit, she thinks. He actually sounds serious. "Tell me the truth."

"You could at least say please," Jessica says. She can't help it. Sometimes her mouth just says things. When his stare only gets more intense, she sighs. Fine. "I went to visit Bella."

"Did you really?" He doesn't sound surprised. "Why?"

"Umm, because she's my friend and I was concerned for her wellbeing? I could have sworn we've had this conversation before."

"Jessica."

"You know, just saying my name doesn't really make me more inclined to do what you want," she tells him.

He knows something. Jessica's not sure how, but he must have at least some idea of why she had to talk to Bella. She's not that surprised, really. If Jessica had a secret like being able to cross a parking lot in seconds and stop a full speed van with her bare hands, she'd want to keep track of who knows, too. She sighs, blowing a stray strand of hair back into place, and props her head up against her hand as she meets his gaze head on. She's not afraid of him, and she refuses to give in that easily.

Just because she understands doesn't mean she'll go along with it.

She's already decided not to tell anyone. And although she craves to know what he is, because he can't be human, she's content to wait until she can figure it out on her own.

Edward's still staring at her. Instead of hostility, however, he's watching her with open curiosity.

"What?" she snaps when his staring finally borders on uncomfortable. He blinks slowly and smiles, and it's like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. So she's in a poetic mood today. So what. She can be sappy if she wants to.

"You're fascinating," Edward says frankly, unashamed of the touch of awe present in his expression. "We've been partners in English for half a year now, and you still manage to surprise me."

"Okay," she says, dragging the word out. That was weirdly condescending and a little strange but also maybe sweet? Maybe? "I mean, we don't talk much, so that makes sense."

"I'm very good at reading people," he tells her, his gaze still strangely intense.

"Right," she says. Okay, so Edward is definitely more than a little weird. But she's known that for months now. Besides, weird doesn't necessarily mean bad, she tells herself.

The door opening again keeps her from saying anything else, and both she and Edward greet Mr. Banner when he walks in.

As she waits for the rest of the students to arrive, she can't help but sneak more glances at Edward even as she pretends to be looking through her notes.

She catches a glimpse of another smile on his face and feels herself begin to grin in return.

No, she thinks, not bad at all.


	7. Chapter 6

Once school is over for the day and most everyone has cleared out of the parking lot, Jessica meets up with Mike and Lauren near the front office doors. They head to their cars, chatting aimlessly about homework and theories as to why the cafeteria food is so bad. Jessica is still too distracted to really contribute, no matter how she tries to ignore the fluttering feeling she gets when she thinks of Edward and the enigma that is his existence. It's a strange mixture of nerves, excitement, and a burning desire to learn more. If it didn't leave her so breathless, she might actually enjoy it.

Luckily, Lauren is content to leave her be for now and Mike is too wrapped up in explaining how the lunch staff are aliens who plan to drug the student body to notice.

Since they don't want to have to come back to the school to get their cars, they all drive separately to the hospital. Jessica arrives first, with Mike and Lauren close behind.

"Do you think we should get anything for Tyler?" Jessica asks once Mike and Lauren meet her at the doors to the hospital. She remembers how plain her uncle's hospital room had been a few months ago when she went to visit, and the thought of Tyler being alone in a dull room with nothing but blank walls and maybe a single plant to stare at makes her sad.

"I guess we can," Lauren says. She purses her lips in thought. Before she can suggest anything, Mike grabs Jessica and pulls her toward the small store full of stuffed animals and "get well soon" cards.

"Is he still obsessed with cows?" Mike asks them as he leads them toward the shop. Lauren snorts.

"I think he'll _always_ be obsessed with cows," she says. Jessica can very clearly remember the way Tyler's room looked back in eighth grade, and can't help but laugh. His room had been stuffed to the brim with cow toys and figurines. To this day, she hasn't been able to get a real answer out of him about why he likes them so much.

"Good," Mike says once they've gotten close enough to look inside the shop. He points to a giant stuffed cow sitting on the floor next to the doors, and Jessica feels a large grin stretch across her face. It's very easily the largest thing in the small shop, and it's fur is a soft, dusty brown with pastel blue patches.

"It's perfect."

…

Tyler cries when they present the cow to him.

Once he makes them swear not to tell anyone about it, he grabs the cow from Mike and hugs it to his chest, obviously feeling much better already. Jessica doesn't bother teasing him about it, and she makes sure to kick Mike's shin when he opens his mouth to do just that.

"How're you feeling," Lauren asks as Mike and Jessica engage in a staring contest. Tyler smiles and presses his face into the stuffed cow's fur.

"Well," he says. "I've definitely been better." Lauren rolls his eyes and Tyler shakes his head. "Nah, I'm fine. I have a minor concussion and some bruising but other than that I'm all good. According to Dr. Cullen, I got really lucky. I should be back in school in a couple days."

"That's good," Jessica says. Tyler nods.

"Did I miss anything important?" he asks.

"Most of what we did in class all day was just more busy work," Lauren says. "Everyone was too busy talking about the crash to get anything done."

"Yeah and anyway, even if you did miss anything it's not like they can make you turn it in anytime soon," Mike adds.

"Yep," Jessica says with a nod. "All you need to do is relax until you're better. I'll even keep track of the workouts you miss so I can help you get back on track when you're allowed again." Tyler smiles gratefully and Lauren rolls her eyes.

"You guys are such freaks," she says. Jessica and Tyler share a glance and smirk. Lauren has never been shy about her hate of all forms of exercise. She and Coach Clapp have an ongoing feud about how little she can get away with doing in gym without it hurting her grade.

They spend the next twenty minutes talking about plans for their next trip to La Push. Finally, Mike checks his phone when it vibrates and stands from where he'd been sitting in the chair next to Tyler's bed.

"I've gotta go," he says when everyone turns to look at him. "Mom needs help at the store." Tyler waves him over and grabs his arm, pulling him down into a classic bro hug before letting him go.

"Later, man," he says. Lauren sighs and stands to follow.

"I better go too," she says as she leans over to hug Tyler.

Once they're alone, Tyler relaxes back into the pillows behind him, letting out a gusty sigh. He pets aimlessly at the stuffed cow still sitting on his lap and Jessica watches the tension slowly leave his body. She scoots up so she can recline next to him and he shifts to let her rest her head against his shoulder.

After a few moments pass, she looks up to see Tyler watching her with a knowing gaze.

"What?" she asks.

"You've been distracted this entire time."

"No I haven't!" Jessica protests. She's done her best to leave all thoughts of Edward behind since entering the hospital, and she thinks she's done pretty well. When Tyler just keeps watching her steadily, she groans and presses her face into his chest.

"It's Edward, isn't it." She can try to deny it, but there's no use. Tyler's known her too long to let this go.

"Yeah," she admits. She feels a thrill of excitement at the thought of Edward and does her best to stifle it immediately. When she looks back to Tyler, he's watching her with an annoyingly chipper grin on his face. "What now?"

"You smiled when I said his name," he says. Jessica can't find the words to deny it and she feels a blush spread across her cheeks. "You're still smiling."

"Oh my god." She presses her palms to her cheeks and shakes her head. What the hell? There's no reason for her to blush right now. This is ridiculous. When she looks, Tyler's still watching her, and she glares. "Shut up," she says. Tyler just laughs and wraps an arm around her shoulders.

"I think it's cute," he says. "I mean, obviously you liked him last year-"

"Oh please. As if you didn't have a crush on him too," she mutters bitterly. Tyler continues as if he didn't hear her.

"But this is different, isn't it?"

Jessica takes a deep breath and thinks, really thinks, about what's going on with Edward. Last year, she'd been infatuated by his looks and his manners. Since then, she's grown to know him better. Every other thing he does annoys her, and she's pretty sure he does it on purpose. He's condescending and standoffish, but he's smart as hell and she likes pestering him in return. He makes her laugh, and she can't forget the kindness that she sees in him sometimes.

It hits her then that she actually enjoys spending time with him, even when he's being deliberately frustrating.

In fact, she wouldn't mind spending more time with him.

Oh no.

This is bad.

Why is she just noticing this?

"Jessica? Jessica, relax. It's fine!" Tyler shakes her and she gasps as she presses a hand to her chest. Tyler still looks worried so Jessica gulps in a breath and slowly lets it go. While Tyler waits for her to speak, pulling her even closer against him, she feels her heartbeat pounding rabbit quick beneath her palm.

"Holy shit," she says. "I like him."

"I mean, I don't want to say it was obvious, but…"

"Oh god, what do I do?" She slaps a hand over her eyes, putting up only a token resistance when Tyler pulls it away so he can look her in the eyes.

"What do you want to do?" he asks.

"I don't know." She does know, she just isn't sure it's smart.

"C'mon, Jess. Don't play. You know what you want."

"Yeah," she says with a sigh. "I do."

"You should go for it," Tyler says. Jessica shakes her head. She still feels off center, like the earth has shifted unexpectedly, but it's bearable with Tyler here to ground her.

"I tried that already and he said no, remember?" she says. Tyler scoffs.

"He didn't know you then," Tyler says knowingly. Jessica laughs.

"I appreciate the fact that you think him knowing me might increase my chances."

"Oh, no," he says. "Don't start that shit with me."

"What-"

"You know what I mean. That thing you do where you let misplaced modesty take over all of your common sense. Don't start."

"Ty, you-" Jessica doesn't know what else to say.

"I've said this before and I'll say it again. You're one of the best people I know and Edward would be lucky to have you in his life. If he can't see that, it's his problem."

"Thanks," Jessica says. His words leave her feeling giddy and she grips his hand tighter where it's still holding hers.

"Besides," Tyler says, "I really don't think he'll turn you down this time."

"Yeah?" Jessica asks. At Tyler's look, she smiles sheepishly. "I just- Am I really the kind of person who asks out the same person who's already turned them down before?"

"It worked for James Potter," Tyler says sagely. Jessica snorts.

"Did you really just reference Harry Potter to make me feel better?" Jessica asks. She nudges his leg with her knee and smiles. "What a fucking nerd."

"You're the one who made me read those books in the first place!" Tyler protests with a laugh. "Besides, to answer your question, yes you are exactly that kind of person."

Tyler's right and she knows it. She sighs and leans her weight further against him.

"Okay," she says. "Okay, I'll ask him to the girls choice dance sometime this week."

"Shit, really?" Tyler asks. Jessica turns to look at him when she hears how surprised he sounds, not sure if she should feel insulted by his surprise or not. When he notices, he hurries to continue. "That's awesome! He's gonna say yes, you'll see."

Jessica smiles and pulls him into a hug.

...

When she finally leaves Tyler's room, Lauren is there waiting for her, leaning against the wall. Jessica pauses and thinks back. It's been at least twenty minutes since Lauren and Mike left earlier.

"Were you out here this whole time?" Jessica asks. Lauren just raises an eyebrow. Jessica sighs and heads for the front doors. She's known since before she went to see Bella that Lauren wouldn't wait forever to find out what's going on. Lauren follows her as she goes.

"Alright," Jessica says. "My stepdad won't be home for a couple hours, so we can talk at my house." Lauren stares her down, as if trying to make sure she won't try to run and hide so they don't have to have this conversation. Eventually, she seems satisfied.

"Okay, see you there," Lauren says as she nods and heads for her car. Jessica watches her go with a helpless shake of her head. She's not looking forward to this conversation. Maybe Lauren will react well, but she's not sure. All Jessica knows is that she doesn't want to lie.

She spends the entirety of the drive to her house trying to decide what to say, but comes up with nothing. Lauren is just pulling up to her house when Jessica arrives. Thankfully, she waits to begin until they get inside. She denies the offer of food, so Jessica trudges up the stairs to her room.

"So," Lauren says once they've curled up beside each other on Jessica's bed. "What was so important that you had to skip school to talk to Bella?" Jessica purses her lips before letting out a heavy sigh.

"I wanted to know what Bella saw when the van came at her," she finally says. Lauren's face scrunches up in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Edward wasn't next to Bella when Tyler's van first started spinning, but once the van stopped, he was on the ground with her." Jessica waits for Lauren to catch up, and is satisfied to see Lauren get it almost right away.

"That's not possible," she says.

"That's what I thought," Jessica says. "That's why I went to talk to Bella. I wanted to see if she'd noticed too."

"And?" Lauren prompts, looking intensely curious.

"She saw the exact same thing. One second, Edward was with his family across the lot, and the next, he's with her."

"Are you saying he has superpowers, or something?" Lauren asks, incredulous.

"I'm not saying anything," Jessica replies. "All I know is what I saw."

"Wow," Lauren says. She's very obviously going over her own memory of this morning, and Jessica waits patiently for her reaction. "Holy fuck!" Lauren sits straight up and snaps her hand out to grab at Jessica's arm. "Do you know what this means?"

"You can't tell anyone," Jessica says as she attempts to pull her arm from Lauren's grip.

"I mean obviously." Lauren waves away her concern. "No one would even believe me if I did say anything."

Well, there is that, Jessica thinks. She shakes her head and peers up at Lauren with open curiosity.

"You're taking this very well," Jessica says. Lauren scoffs.

"I had a supernatural phase during eighth grade," she explains. "Nothing can shock me now."

"Right," Jessica says after laughing. It's as if a great burden has lifted from her shoulders, now that someone else knows too. "Do you really think it's supernatural, though?"

"Well, what else could it be?" Lauren asks. Jessica shrugs and Lauren flops back down to lie beside her again. They stay there in silence, both pondering the strangeness of their current situation. Then, Jessica experiences the emotional equivalent of being splashed in the face with a bucket of ice water.

"Oh shit," she says, staring blankly up at the ceiling.

"What?" Lauren asks.

"I told Tyler that I was gonna ask Edward out this week," she says. Jessica flings an arm over her eyes and groans. It's all but confirmed that Edward isn't human, and here she is ready to date him. What a mess.

"What!" Lauren throws herself over Jessica's body and holds her down. "Tell me everything," she demands as she pries Jessica's arm away from covering her eyes.

"Tyler was being all nice and supportive and shit and I couldn't help it!" Jessica exclaims. "It just came out!"

"I can't believe you told Tyler before you told me," Lauren says, glaring down at her. Jessica sticks her tongue out. She's pretty sure that if she tries, she can throw Lauren onto the floor from here, so Lauren's attempt at being intimidating is useless.

"Hey, this is a pretty new development," Jessica says. "I'd appreciate it if you could keep the bitterness to a minimum."

Lauren shakes her head fondly and flicks Jessica's forehead. "You're such a mess," she says. Jessica just smiles as charmingly as she can. "How are you gonna ask him out?"

"Well, I haven't actually gotten that far," Jessica answers sheepishly.

"Of course you haven't."

"Hey!" She twists, finally knocking Lauren from her perch before sitting up. "I haven't exactly had much time to process all of this!" Lauren laughs at her and Jessica pouts.

"Well, first of all," Lauren says. "I'd advise you to not ask him out in front of the entire student body this time."

"Thank you, Lauren, for that reminder of what is quite possibly the most humiliating moment of my entire life." Jessica tries to glare, but she can't keep it up. Lauren's teasing grin is too infectious.

"You're a big girl, you can handle it," Lauren tells her as she pats Jessica on the head. Jessica bites her lip and looks away, feeling a strange knot of tension grow deep in her stomach.

"What if this is a mistake?" she asks. She doesn't like how pathetic she sounds, but, honestly, Lauren's seen her through worse than a little bit of doubt. "What if he says no?"

"C'mon, Jess, don't do this." Lauren grabs her hand and pulls her back down to rest beside her again. "Even if he does say no, which I don't see why he would, would it really be that bad?"

"It would suck."

"Well, yeah, obviously," Lauren says. At Jessica's peevish glare she smiles softly and brushes a hand across Jessica's hair, wary of getting her fingers tangled in the curls. "But we both know you can handle it."

"Lauren," Jessica says. "On the day Edward turned me down, I cried for almost an hour once I was alone."

"Really?" Lauren sounds shocked, and Jessica sighs. "But you always seem so, you know…"

"Yeah," she says.

"Well, if it doesn't go well this time, call me." At Jessica's questioning look, she continues. "I'll cry with you. And once you're done crying, we'll go get ice cream and talk about all the reasons why Edward's a loser."

Normally, Jessica likes to deal with her emotions through a careful balance of repression and overanalysis until it doesn't hurt to remember anymore. She has to admit, though, that Lauren's idea is probably better.

"Of course," Lauren says, drawing Jessica back to the present. "For this to happen, Edward would have to turn you down, and I really don't think he's going to." Jessica wants to ask how Lauren can be so sure, but she figures she's spent enough time dwelling on this today.

"Thanks," she says, finally. Lauren squeezes her hand.

"Hey, Jess?" Lauren says after a few beats of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you tell me about what happened with the van today? It seems like something that you shouldn't tell _anyone_."

"I guess," Jessica says. "But you're practically my sister. Everyone knows that moms and sisters don't count."

...

By the next morning, the ice had mostly melted and the roads are clear again, although the sky is still overcast and threatening snow.

Jessica spends most of the time before school starts with Angela, talking about plans for college. Angela has always been ahead of everyone else when it comes to being prepared for the future, so Jessica feels immense relief when she hears that Angela isn't entirely sure what she wants to do yet either.

In Gov, she's forced to endure Lauren's suggestive looks and comments about the Edward situation, but she's grown used to it in the years they've known each other. Lauren is almost always teasing her about something.

Once she's finally able to escape Lauren's incessant teasing, she gets to English with over five minutes to spare and is determined not to feel embarrassed about it. It's not like she was in a hurry to get here or anything. Who cares if this is the earliest she's ever been?

When she walks through the door, however, she pauses. Edward isn't at his desk. She feels a rush of disappointment and purses her lips. This really is getting pathetic. Why should she care if Edward's not there? Jessica sighs. She knows exactly why and she's positive that if Tyler could see her now, he'd be ecstatic. He's told her before that he's not the biggest fan of Edward, but apparently he enjoys seeing her at the mercy of a crush. God, she really has to find a way to manage these fluttery feelings before they get out of hand.

If Lauren could hear her thoughts, she'd tell her that these feelings have been out of hand for a while now.

She'd probably be right.

Jessica shakes her head and is about to head to her desk when she feels a solid presence appear behind her. She freezes, her breath catching as a flood of adrenalin almost sends her reeling. If asked later, she wouldn't be able to explain why.

The sound of someone clearing their throat snaps her out of it and she jumps, whirling to see Edward standing behind her. She can't deny the rush of excitement she feels when she sees him, and she has to consciously force herself not to smile. It's absolutely ridiculous, but it's kinda nice too. Of course, she can't let Edward know that.

Speaking of Edward, he's watching her with a smirk, clearly trying not to laugh at the way he'd made her jump. Jessica glares, doing her best to ignore the warm anticipation she feels just from being around him. When Edward does nothing but stand there, and when she remembers that they are, in fact, blocking the doorway, she turns sharply on her heel to stride proudly toward her desk. As she goes, she swings her hair just right for some of it to hit Edward in the face as she turns, and she can't deny the immense satisfaction she feels at his startled cough.

Once Edward sits at his desk beside her, she smiles sweetly at him. He looks as if he desperately wants to roll his eyes, but of course he's much too polite.

"Good morning, Jessica," he says. She absolutely doesn't like the way her name sounds when he says it. He's been saying it for at least a year now, after all. It should in no way affect her any differently now than it has before.

Right.

"Good morning," she manages to greet him in return. Fantastic, she thinks as she feels herself start to blush, she's flustered herself with her own goddamn thoughts. She hopes that she isn't the one who has to start the conversation today. She's not entirely sure she could handle it.

"You never did tell me how Bella was feeling when you visited her," Edward says.

Maybe it would have been better if she'd started after all.

"Didn't I?" Jessica replies. She stares straight ahead and can almost feel Edward's gaze on her. "How odd. I mean, you and I usually tell each other everything." She's rather proud of how deadpan she's able to stay while saying it.

Edward sighs.

"I'll let her know you were worried about her," Jessica says, sneaking a glance his way.

"Is it really surprising that I'd worry?" Edward asks. He smiling at her imploringly, practically begging her with his dark, gentle eyes to believe him. It's unsettling how desperately she wants to give in. She forces herself to look away and takes a deep breath. Edward continues on as if he's oblivious to the way she's fighting to regain her self-control. "After all, she hit her head pretty hard. She seemed a bit confused when she was being taken to the hospital,"

Does she dare confront him now?

Almost the entire class has arrived. It's probably best to wait. Also, she needs some time to recover from whatever the hell he did with his eyes just now. She's pretty sure that should be illegal.

"She seemed fine when I talked to her," Jessica finally decides on saying, not risking another glance back at him. "I'm just glad nothing worse happened."

"Aren't we all," Edward says with a smirk. He's hiding something. Well, obviously, she thinks, snorting quietly. Of course the boy who isn't even human is hiding something. How could he not be? She works up the courage to look at him again and he's still watching her, but it's more intense now, as if he's trying to look straight into her soul. At least the Bambi eyes have disappeared. Although, this really isn't that much better.

"What?" Jessica asks. As much as she enjoys his attention these days, it's a bit disconcerting. Edward blinks rapidly and looks away.

"Just a thought," he says, sounding as if his entire worldview has just shifted. "It's nothing."

"Right," she says. It's very clearly _not_ nothing, but it's also not really her place to pry, so she allows the silence to hold as they wait for Mr. Collins to begin teaching.

As she waits, her mind wanders to the upcoming dance. While it is nice to already have a date picked out, she still can't help but worry about how to actually do the asking. She thinks back to the way Tyler had held her against his chest as he reassured her and smiles. Honestly, what would she do without him?

Before she can get too lost in thought, however, Mr. Collins begins his lecture, and Edward snaps his pencil in half.

…

Bella is back in school today, although she must have skipped the first few hours since Jessica hadn't heard her truck before heading to class this morning. They don't talk much in class since they don't sit next to each other, but as they're walking to lunch, Jessica tells her about the conversation she had with Edward.

By the end of it, Bella is fuming.

"I wasn't confused," she hisses. Jessica sighs.

"I know that, remember?" She shakes her head. "He doesn't know what I talked to you about. He's probably just making sure that if you do tell me anything, I won't believe you."

"Would it have worked?" Bella asks. "If you hadn't seen anything, would you believe me?"

"Well." Jessica pauses. Lauren believed her easily enough, but she's always been willing to listen to Jessica no matter how farfetched she might sound. Of course, Lauren's always been open to strange new ideas. Jessica isn't like that. "Probably not. My grandma used to tell me stories about the supernatural when I was younger, and she always seemed to believe them, but I've never really paid much attention."

Bella doesn't seem surprised, but luckily she's not disappointed either. "I guess that makes sense," she says reluctantly. "I probably wouldn't believe it either."

"C'mon," Jessica says, grabbing Bella's arm to drag her faster toward the cafeteria. She's pretty sure she just caught a glimpse of one of Edward's siblings in the reflection of a nearby window, and she'd rather not have them hear their conversation. "I heard they have tater tots today and I don't want to miss out."

"But-"

"We can talk more about this later," Jessica says. Bella looks around and nods. She clearly wants to talk about it more, but she doesn't want to get caught talking about the Cullens either.

Once they reach the cafeteria, Jessica is delighted to find out that they are, in fact, serving tater tots today.

The table feels strange without Tyler there. No one else besides Lauren really seems to care once they tell everyone that Tyler is doing fine, and conversation quickly moves on. While Bella gladly stays quiet as she eats, Jessica gets dragged into a debate about wonder woman's armor by Angela who needs someone on her side. As passionate about this issue as she is, she notices that Eric is nowhere near as involved as he'd normally be.

"Hey." She nudges his arm and he looks away from where he was glaring at the Cullen table. "What's up?"

"Cullen's staring again," Eric says with a bitter frown. He's picking at his food without eating it, and Jessica rolls her eyes. Honestly, she thought his crush on Bella would have faded by now. The only guy in their friend group who hasn't fallen in love with her is Ben, and at this point she's starting to think it's only because he hasn't even met her yet.

Unfortunately, she isn't the only one to hear Eric's comment. Mike looks over with a scowl on his face, and Bella blushes.

"So," Jessica says before they can start talking about how much Edward sucks again. "Bella, do you know who you're asking to the dance?" Bella looks startled to suddenly have everyone's attention on her.

"What dance?" she asks, apprehensive. Jessica huffs a laugh when she sees how hopeful Mike and Eric suddenly look.

"Every year, we have a dance where the girl has to ask whatever boy she wants to go with," Angela explains. She's sitting directly across the table from Bella and in between Mike and Eric, so she doesn't see how eager they suddenly are. "It's pretty much just a Sadie Hawkins dance, but for some reason no one calls it that."

"Oh," Bella says. "I don't really do dances." Angela looks as if she's going to ask why, so Bella explains, "I tend to fall a lot, and I'd rather not break any bones so soon after moving here."

Right. Jessica has almost forgotten how clumsy Bella is. Apparently clumsiness is something you can become desensitized to after witnessing it enough. Before she can respond, Mike speaks up.

"I can go with you if you want," he says earnestly. Jessica wants to groan. Instead, she meets Lauren's gaze, sharing her despair at Mike's obliviousness. Lauren rolls her eyes and Jessica scrunches up her nose. If she ever gets as bad as Mike is with Edward, she hopes that Lauren will knock some sense into her. Angela looks uncomfortable just from watching, and Eric is glaring at Mike with very little subtlety.

In order to escape having to witness Bella kindly turn Mike down, Jessica tears her gaze away and looks around the cafeteria. Edward turns his head at just the right moment for his gaze to meet hers.

Jessica smiles automatically, and his answering grin more than makes up for having to witness Mike's awkward crush.

When he's not trying to impress a teacher or use it to get his way, Edward's smile is very nice.

She decides she'd like to see it more often.


	8. Chapter 7

The next day, Jessica wakes up to find that Tyler has sent her seven texts overnight, each one longer than the last. At first, she's worried that something bad must have happened, but when she sees the contents, she groans in tired protest and shoves her phone away after turning off her alarm.

She appreciates the fact that Tyler is supportive of her quest to ask Edward out, but it's much too early for her to acknowledge it. She's sure that once she feels more awake, she'll be more thankful.

The sun hasn't even begun to rise when she finally works up enough effort to drag herself out of bed and open her curtains. It hasn't snowed too much overnight, however, and it looks like the paths will be clear enough to take a quick morning run before school.

She dresses quickly, not bothering to even try brushing her hair after taking a look at the mess of tangled curls. She hurries downstairs, pulling her hair back and grabbing something quick to eat before heading out the door. The sooner she starts her run, the sooner she'll get back to the warm shower that's waiting for her at home.

Her mom is awake when she gets back from her run through the woods, and Jessica offers her a bright "Good morning!" as she jogs toward the stairs to shower. Her mom grunts in reply and takes a large gulp from the mug of coffee she's holding. By the time Jessica arrives back downstairs, her mother's hair is brushed and sleek, and she's all dressed up for work.

"How was your run?" her mom asks when Jessica walks into the kitchen.

"It was good," she says. "Quiet."

"That's right, you usually run with that Crowley boy, don't you. How is he?"

"He's doing okay. Lor, Mike, and I visited him after school yesterday. The doctor said he might be able to go back to school on Monday." Her mom nods and pours herself some more coffee. Jessica hops up to sit on the counter next to where she's standing.

"Speaking of school…" her mom says once Jessica's done getting situated. Jessica groans and moves to get down again, but before she can, her mom continues. "Your stepfather got a call a couple days ago about an unexcused absence. He didn't want to bring it up with you, but Jess, you know how he gets about this stuff. Attendance is important if you want to get into a good university."

"It was _one class_ , Mom," Jessica says in protest. "I honestly don't think any colleges are going to care."

Her mom purses her lips but Jessica refuses to back down. After all, she's a Junior in high school. If she wants to fuck over her own life, she feels like she's old enough to make that decision on her own. Not that she _does_ want to, of course. But she could. Besides, as far as she's concerned, skipping one class to visit a friend who was almost hit by a truck is nowhere near close to ruining her own life.

"Wait," Jessica says when her mom shakes her head and pushes away from where she's leaning against the counter. Her mom stops and turns to look at her. "Why doesn't Rick want to talk to me about it?"

Her mom sighs.

"You know how that man gets," she says, "He doesn't want you to feel like he's trying to replace your dad by bringing up stuff like this."

"Oh," Jessica says. She wonders why she's never noticed before. They've been living together for almost four years now. Has he been worried about that this whole time? Her mom smiles and pushes a strand of Jessica's hair back into place.

"I'll be getting home late tonight, so maybe you can talk to him about it after school. I know he enjoys it when you two cook together."

"Yeah, okay," Jessica says. "I'll do that."

"You're a good girl, Jess," her mom says with a smile that morphs quickly into a mock-stern glare. "Just don't miss any more school."

Jessica raises her hands in surrender. "Alright," she says laughingly, "I promise."

Even if she did want to miss more school, she can only miss so many hours before being kicked off the volleyball team, so it's not a hard promise to make.

Her mom nods in approval and, with one last pat to Jessica's hair, turns to head out the door. Jessica watches through the kitchen window as her mom's car leaves the driveway. Once the car is out of site, Jessica hops down from her perch on the counter and grabs her phone to finally reply to the texts Tyler sent her last night.

Going by the time he sent them, Jessica is sure he must be sleeping now, so she isn't worried when he hasn't replied by the time she arrives at school.

...

Lauren and Angela ambush her when she arrives outside her government classroom.

Apparently, they've been talking to Tyler and have promised him to make sure she actually asks Edward to the dance before the end of the day since she didn't even bother to try yesterday. She thinks back to bio yesterday and sighs. She'd arrived to the classroom early, but Edward hadn't shown up until a few seconds before the bell rang, and she hadn't been able to find him after gym. Oh well. If the determined looks on her friends' faces are anything to go by, she'll be making some progress today.

"Et tu, Angela?" Jessica says when she realizes exactly who has grabbed her. Angela smiles sheepishly, but obviously she isn't too bothered by her betrayal because she helps Lauren drag her to one of the lesser traveled hallways near the library. Jessica manages to shake out of their hold, but is by then resigned to her fate. "This is about Edward, isn't it."

Lauren grins unrepentantly.

"Tell me what you have planned," she says after placing her hands on her hips. Jessica groans and slides down the wall she's leaning back against to sit on the floor with her legs splayed out in front of her.

"I don't have anything planned," Jessica says in protest. Angela crouches down beside her and pats her shoulder. "I thought about it all night but I couldn't think of anything."

"It's okay," Angela says, "that's what we're here for."

"I thought you were gonna stay out of it," Jessica says when Lauren sits down cross legged in front of her.

"No, I said I believe in you," she clarifies. "Just because I know Cullen is gonna say yes doesn't mean I'm gonna let you do this on your own. Hell, you'll probably just keep putting it off until the dance is already over."

That's… Well, okay, that's actually completely fair. Angela pats her shoulder again and smiles sweetly when Jessica gives her a long suffering look.

"Fine," Jessica says after letting out a long, gusty sigh. She knows her friends won't back down, so she might as well give in with some dignity. "How should I do this?"

"Well, we know that a public display is out of the question," Lauren says bluntly. Jessica shakes her head with a huff of laughter.

"Right," she agrees.

"I think you should just ask him," Angela says before Lauren can say anything else. Upon hearing this, Lauren presses a hand to her chest and widens her eyes, doing her best to portray horrified shock.

"Angela!" she exclaims. "How could you say something like that?"

"C'mon, Lor," Angela says with a roll of her eyes, "we both know that Jessica will never go along with whatever ridiculous scheme you're thinking of."

Jessica laughs at Lauren's offended expression.

"I suppose you're right," Lauren finally says, prompting a sigh of relief from Angela. "Besides, Jess wouldn't have been able to do my plan justice."

"Excuse you!" Jessica glares when Angela doesn't immediately leap to her defense. "I could totally pull off any plan you came up with."

"Oh, really?" Lauren asks. "Because the last time we tried one of my plans you fucked up your escape and we had to help the Sweringers clean their backyard for two weeks."

"Maybe your plans just suck," Jessica says as she flips her hair over her shoulder. It's not her fault that she got caught in a bush as she tried to leap the fence.

"Maybe _you_ just suck!"

"Or maybe," Angela says patiently, "we should focus on the problem at hand since we only have ten more minutes until the bell rings."

"Yeah, that's um, probably for the best," Jessica admits. Lauren nudges Jessica's foot with her own and they smile at each other before turning back to look at Angela. "Do you really think I don't need a plan?"

"I do," Angela says. "Having a plan will probably just make you worry."

"Of course, we all know you'll worry either way, but Angela's right," Lauren says. "Besides, Cullen's not _that_ great. He doesn't deserve one of my plans." She sticks her nose in the air and sniffs disdainfully.

"You're such a shit," Jessica says as she laughs and pushes at Lauren's shoulder. Lauren falls obligingly to sprawl out on her back. "You do realize that if he ever becomes my boyfriend, you'll have to be nice to him, right?"

Lauren groans and covers her face with her hands in dismay.

"Boyfriend? That's very ambitious of you, Jess," Angela says, ignoring Lauren's dramatics. Before Jessica can try to defend herself, Angela continues, saying, "I like it."

The warning bell rings and Jessica stands with a heavy sigh, stretching her arms over her head. She nudges Lauren's side with her foot when her friend doesn't move. Angela shakes her head and waves over her shoulder as she heads to class. Unlike Lauren and Jessica, her first class is on the opposite side of the school from the library, so she needs to rush to be on time.

"C'mon, Lor," Jessica says, "rise and shine."

Lauren reaches out to grab Jessica's ankle, halting any further attempts to prod her into movement. "Just give me a moment," Lauren says, "I'm still processing the fact that I'll need to be _nice_ to _Cullen_."

"Well, at least you'll get to give him the shovel talk if we end up together."

"I'd completely forgotten about that!" Lauren springs up off the floor and clasps her hands together. "Although, isn't that usually the job of the concerned, over protective father?" Jessica snorts and begins dragging Lauren to their classroom.

"Please, even _you_ could take my stepdad in a fight any day. He's not exactly the threatening type."

Lauren laughs, and Jessica can't help the smile that spreads across her face as they make it into their seats just before the bell rings.

Luckily, Mr. Jefferson decides to lecture for the entire class period, so Lauren has no time to pester her, and she escapes with her dignity intact once the final bell rings.

…

Edward is late.

Jessica glances at the clock again even though she knows it's been less than a minute since she last checked. Class is starting in three minutes, and Edward still isn't here. She drums her fingers against the desk and shifts in her seat, doing her best to relax back into her chair. She'd deliberately arrived to English later than usual in an attempt to forestall any nerves at the sight of him, but as she waits for the door to open again, she thinks this is worse.

Finally, just before the bell is about to ring, the door opens and Edward walks through the door with Mr. Collins. She's definitely not relieved at the sight of him because that'd just be ridiculous and, frankly, a little pathetic. After all, it's not like she's personally invested in speaking to him today or anything. Right.

Mr. Collins is nodding thoughtfully to whatever Edward is saying, and Jessica clenches her jaw as she turns away to look in the other direction. She really has to put a stop to all of this staring at Edward she's been doing lately. It doesn't matter that he's so beautiful it hurts or that seeing him smile makes her feel all fuzzy inside, like her heart is full of tiny sheep, or... God, she's so gone on this loser it's disgusting.

When Edward finally sits down in the desk next to hers, his conversation with Mr. Collins finished, Jessica doesn't turn to look at him. Of course, this definitely doesn't help with the completion of her plan, and Lauren will have something to say about it when she asks for a progress report over lunch, but that isn't going to change the fact that she's determined to ignore him for making her worry about the potential that he might not show up.

Of course, as per usual, her plan is ruined almost immediately after it's formed.

"Good morning, Jessica," Edward says. Jessica purses her lips, thinks about maybe just not answering, and then lets out a gusty sigh. As much as he probably deserves it, she isn't sure if she'd be able to commit to the silent treatment for the entire class period.

"Hey," she says. She glances over toward him and snaps her gaze back down to her notebook when she sees him watching her. Heat spreads through her cheeks and she taps her pen against her desk, unsure of what to say or if she should say anything at all.

"I spoke with Bella yesterday," he says, and now Jessica has no choice but to talk to him. If the smug look on his face is anything to go by, he knows it.

"That's nice," Jessica says flatly. She isn't entirely sure where he's going with this, but she wants to find out. That doesn't mean she has to be friendly about it. "I hope she told you to go fuck yourself." Well, okay. She could probably stand to be a little friendlier.

Edward raises his eyebrows and Jessica clears her throat before shifting to sit up straighter. She's not going to apologize for swearing at him, but she's willing to admit to herself that was probably a little uncalled for. Not that she'll ever tell him that, of course. He'd be unbearably smug. In fact, if she ever did, he'd probably look a lot like he does right now.

"What?" she demands, turning sharply in her seat to glare at him. She can practically feel herself bristling, and she has to fight not to clench her jaw.

"Nothing," he says after a short pause. He's still watching her, but it feels less intense now. He seems almost amused by her attitude. Jessica narrows her eyes before nodding slowly, allowing herself to relax.

"Right," she says. "What did you talk to Bella about, if you don't mind me asking?" She does her best to sound open and friendly, but he just stares blankly. She refuses to look away, however. She will not be the first to break.

Finally, Edward lets out an amused almost-laugh and Jessica feels herself perk up at the sound. It's entirely involuntary, and she desperately hopes he didn't notice as she presses her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to hide the blush she can feel spreading across her face.

"I asked her about what you talked about when you stopped by her house the other day," he says.

"That's really none of your business," Jessica replies. She pulls her hands away from her face so she can see how he reacts.

"Yes, that's what she said, too," Edward says with a friendly grin. Luckily, Jessica can see right through it to the annoyance that's begun lurking just below the surface once more. She won't let herself be led astray by his stupid smiles. She knows exactly what he's trying to do.

"That's not going to work on me," she tells him. His smile falls away and he narrows his eyes in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he asks. Jessica leans toward him, crossing her arms over her chest. She notes absently that their height difference isn't as pronounced when they're sitting down.

"That thing you do where you smile and then everyone just falls over themselves to please you," she says. "That won't work on me." Not anymore, she adds silently.

He laughs, and Jessica flinches back, surprised. There's no hint of mockery in the sound. He actually sounds pleased.

"Oh, Jessica," he says with a wicked smile as he leans toward her. "I would be disappointed if you did."

She feels vaguely threatened, but she can't quite decide if the feeling is unpleasant or not.

"You're teasing me," she says softly.

"Am I?" he asks. Jessica feels breathless, suddenly, and she wants both to stay here forever and to break away before it gets too intense. Thankfully, Edward takes pity on her and leans back to sit properly in his seat before she does something crazy like ask him out then and there.

At that moment, he jerks his head sharply to meet her gaze once more, his eyes wide with shock. Before he can even begin to speak, however, Mr. Collins walks to the front of the room and begins his lecture.

All throughout the first half of class, Jessica keeps peeking over to look at Edward, and each time, he's watching her right back. He looks confused, maybe even a little wonderstruck. Jessica would like to know why, but she figures she doesn't need to know the reason in order to enjoy the result.

Finally, Mr. Collins hands out a worksheet to help them review for their upcoming exam on Shakespeare's comedies. Surprising absolutely no one, the majority of the class takes this opportunity to talk about anything other than Shakespeare.

She can hear the people behind her talking about the upcoming dance. Normally, she'd join them, but instead she keeps her head down and fills out the worksheet like the good student she's always pretended to be. She glances over at Edward, expecting him to be doing the same, but instead he appears as if he's frozen in place as he stares blankly down at his own worksheet, pencil in hand but only hovering over the page. She bites her lip and turns back to her work. She wants to talk to him, but she doesn't know how to begin.

Someone taps her on the shoulder and she almost drops her pencil as she startles. After looking to make sure Mr. Collins isn't watching, she turns around in her seat.

"What?" she asks.

"Do you know who you're asking to the dance?" asks the girl who sits behind her. Jessica's worked on group projects with her in the past, but she wouldn't exactly call them friends. Before Jessica can answer, however, the girl, Amy, continues speaking. "Specifically, are you planning on asking Mike?"

"Oh, god no," Jessica says. "No, I'm not asking Mike. You should go for it."

"You think so?" Amy asks, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "Are you sure you're not asking him? You guys are pretty close."

"Yes," Jessica says with a laugh, "I'm sure." As infatuated as Mike is with Bella right now, Jessica is positive that he and Amy would have fun together since whenever Mike has had a project with her in the past he always seemed pretty happy. Maybe if she catches Mike before Amy manages to, she'll be able to warn him not to be a dick about it.

"Great! Thanks," Amy says before turning back to talk to her desk partner. Jessica nods and returns to her worksheet.

After a while, however, she gets tired of sitting in silence.

"So," she says. Edward looks up from where he still hasn't begun to write. "Are you excited for the dance?" She realizes that she probably could have picked a better topic, but she doesn't want to talk about Bella right now and she doesn't think Edward cares about the latest TV shows.

"Not really," Edward says. Jessica rolls her eyes. Way to keep the conversation going, buddy. "What about you?"

"I am, actually!" she says. Well, she was before this conversation. Maybe she shouldn't ask him after all? If he doesn't want to go then she highly doubts that her asking will change his mind. She thinks back to how excited she was to speak to him earlier today and sighs ruefully. How naive she had been. She should have known that something like this would happen.

"Are you thinking of bringing anyone?" Edward asks. He isn't looking at her. Jessica purses her lips as she stares down at her desk. This is a prime opportunity to tease him, and she desperately wants to break whatever awkward tension has descended upon them. Plus, this gives her the chance to test the waters before jumping headfirst into asking him.

"Well, that depends," Jessica says, schooling her features into innocence. She leans toward him and smiles sweetly. "Are you offering?"

Edward makes a strange choking sound, and Jessica watches in shock as he buries his face in his hands. His cheeks don't turn red, but he looks incredibly flustered in the nicest way. She's never seen him embarrassed before. Well, that's not entirely correct. She embarrasses him all the time in class whenever she gets too bored, but this is different.

This is perfect.

She props her chin up on her hand and watches as he pulls himself together. She doesn't even mind that he's an asshole about eighty percent of the time. In this moment, all she wants to do is pet his hair and surround him with soft things. It's ridiculous and soppy and all around gross, but she can feel an involuntary smile pulling at her lips and lets it happen.

"Are you okay," she finally brings herself to ask when he still hasn't moved.

"Give me a moment," he says with his hands still covering his eyes. Eventually, he rests his hands in his lap and peers over at her from the corner of his eyes, as if she's a predator just waiting to devour him at the slightest hint of movement. She can't help but think that this is a role reversal she wouldn't mind returning to in the future.

Edward clears his throat awkwardly.

"You, ah, surprised me," he says. Jessica giggles, delighted by how affected he sounds. He's never before been so emotive in her presence, and it's making her feel all sorts of ways.

"I noticed," she says. They hold eye contact for a few moments longer before Jessica sighs and leans away from him. "You don't actually have to answer," she tells him.

"What?"

"I asked if you were offering…"

"Oh, yes… Well, it _is_ a girls' choice dance," he says. "It's not really my place to do so."

What.

Jessica can't do anything but stare at him as what he said sinks in.

He didn't say no.

He didn't really say yes, either. But he had the perfect opportunity to say no or laugh it off and he didn't.

Jessica feels as if she could explode into a million giddy pieces. Instead, she holds herself together and smiles as she clasps her hands together to keep them from shaking.

The bell for the end of class rings before she can say anything else, but as she watches Edward stuff his blank worksheet into his backpack, she can't bring herself to mind.

...

Bella notices Jessica's good mood as soon as she walks through the door.

"What's up with _you_?" Bella asks. Jessica sighs happily and drops her books onto her desk, relishing in the way the people sitting at the surrounding desks flinch at the sound.

"Love," she proclaims as she sprawls dramatically into her chair.

"Oh my god," Bella says with a groan. She shoves at Jessica until she sits up straight and glares. "C'mon, Jessica."

"I'm being serious!" Jessica protests. She presses her hands to her heart. "Oh, I could just die out of happiness."

Bella finally breaks and laughs at Jessica's antics, so Jessica straightens out her books and tucks her hair back into place behind her ears as Bella begins to tell her about something that happened in one of her earlier classes.

She definitely isn't in love with Edward Cullen, but when she remembers the way he smiled at her, all flustered and soft, she thinks she can see the potential.


	9. Chapter 8

"Alright," Bella says as they walk to Spanish. "I let is slide in trig, but it's time for you to tell me what's really got you so excited."

Jessica groans.

"It's nothing, really," she says. "I've just been thinking about the guy I'm going to ask to the dance; I think he'll say yes."

"That's great!" Bella says, and Jessica is gratified to hear genuine excitement in her voice. "Who are you going to ask?"

"It's a surprise," Jessica says. It's not really a surprise, since any of her other friends (except probably Eric) could easily tell Bella who she's asking, but she wants to avoid the inevitable confrontation that will happen when Bella finds out she wants to go with Edward. Bella looks at Edward the same way so many of the boys here look at her, and Jessica is sure that the other girl is developing a crush, even though Edward's been kind of shitty to Bella during the majority of their interactions since she met him.

Jessica can't say for sure, of course, but she's seen the way Bella blushes whenever she even so much as glances Edward's way. It seems like a pretty good indicator.

"It's Mike, isn't it."

Jessica trips over her own feet.

"No!" she says. Why does everyone think she likes Mike? "No, I'm asking someone else. Besides, Mike's pretty into you right now so that'd be weird."

"What? No he isn't!" Bella protests.

"Are you actually blind?" Jessica asks. "He thinks you're super cute and wants to hold your hand." Among other things, of course, but Jessica won't share that part since she doesn't want to traumatize the other girl. Bella blushes and looks down so her hair drapes over her face. Jessica sighs. "Don't worry about it," she says. She isn't sure how to tell Bella that Mike will get over his crush eventually without sounding horribly insulting, so she doesn't bother.

"Anyway," Bella says. "Are you going with Tyler, then? You guys seem pretty close."

"Also no. He's like my brother." She doesn't mention Tyler's crush on Bella. After how she reacted to hearing about Mike, Jessica knows she's not ready. Besides, after a few days of not seeing her, Tyler might already be over his budding infatuation.

"Well, you're not close enough to Eric, so who else could it be?" Bella is pretty much talking to herself at this point, so Jessica is content to let her wonder. She's about to walk into her Spanish classroom when she realizes that Bella is no longer beside her.

"Bella?" she asks as she turns around. The other girl is staring at her with a look of dazed betrayal.

"You're going to ask Edward."

Fuck. She was really hoping this might happen after class. Jessica sighs and rubs at her temples. She can practically feel a headache coming on.

"That's the plan," Jessica says lightly.

"Why?" Bella demands. She looks as if she's only one pout away from stomping her foot. "You don't even like him!"

"Well," Jessica says, "that's not entirely true, actually."

Bella lets out a strangled noise of frustration and turns as if she's going to storm away.

"Hey!" Jessica grabs her arm and tugs her toward the classroom. "You can't skip class when you've only been here for like, two weeks."

"I don't care." Bella grumbles but she lets Jessica steer her into the classroom.

"Why does this bother you so much?" Jessica asks. She'd known that Bella wouldn't react particularly well, but she wasn't expecting a reaction this strong.

"I don't know," Bella says once they're sitting down. Their desks are across the aisle from each other, and their teacher hasn't arrived yet, so they're free to talk. "He's just… I don't know."

"Bella, do you want to ask Edward to the dance?" Jessica asks patiently. She isn't entirely sure what she'll do if the other girl says yes. Scream in frustration is high on the list of potential reactions, though. Of course, she'll end up asking Edward no matter what Bella says, but she'd like to know.

"No," Bella says. She sighs and bites her lip. "I don't-" She cuts herself off and shakes her head violently.

"This is why it was supposed to be a surprise," Jessica tells her. Bella laughs at that, although it sounds strained.

"I know we only met a little bit ago…"

"Also he made you cry and implied that he doesn't care if you die that one time, but go on," Jessica says helpfully. So she's a little petty. As far as flaws go, she thinks she could do worse.

Bella looks lost for words, so Jessica takes pity. Well, sort of.

"It's the cheekbones, isn't it." When Bella looks at her, confusion plain across her face, Jessica elaborates. "He's very attractive. Physically, I mean. God knows you can't like him for his personality."

"And why's that?" Bella asks, offended. Jessica sighs and crosses one of her legs over the other.

"You literally met him like, ten days ago and he was gone for three of them. Then when you add weekends and the day you missed because of the van incident... Can you really say you know him that well?"

"I guess not," Bella says, but she doesn't look entirely convinced.

"Look," Jessica finally says, tired of dancing around the real issue. "The point is, I'm going to ask him out today. Whether or not you can handle that is up to you, but i'd prefer if we could stay friends."

"I'd prefer that too," Bella says.

"Good," Jessica says, "I'm glad we've cleared that up."

A few beats of silence pass.

"What are you gonna do about the fact that he's probably not human?" Bella asks.

"Oh, shit," Jessica says faintly.

That might actually be a problem.

…

The walk to lunch isn't as awkward as Jessica had feared. She glances over at Bella and frowns when she sees the sullen look on her face. Apparently, they're not finished talking about it. Fantastic.

"Are you really going to ask him?" Bella asks as they approach the cafeteria doors. Jessica sighs and stops walking. Bella slows to a stop as well and they move to the side of the hallway so as to not block the way.

"I am," Jessica says. Bella nods and wraps her arms around herself.

"I know I'm being stupid about this," she says. "I don't even know him, but I feel drawn to him. Like it's fate or something."

"You're not being stupid," Jessica tells her, only lying a little bit. Bella scoffs.

"Thanks, but we both know I am," she says dryly. She shakes her head and sighs. "Don't worry, I'll get over it. Now c'mon, let's go eat."

That said, she grabs Jessica's arm and marches them into the cafeteria, clearly unwilling to talk any more about Edward right now. Jessica is more than okay with that. In fact, she's doing her best to savor the last minutes of freedom before she has to sit down and face Lauren's disapproval for not asking him already.

Bella looks between her and their table where Lauren is practically vibrating with anticipation and laughs at her oncoming pain. Jessica rolls her eyes in response and all but stomps over to their table with Bella trailing behind her. As she goes, she can't help but look over to the Cullens. Both Edward and one of his sisters, Alice, are missing, but the rest of the Cullen siblings look unconcerned by their absence.

That's strange, Jessica thinks, but she really doesn't have time to wonder about where they could be because as soon as she sits down, Lauren pounces.

"So," she begins with a wicked smile, "How was _Edward_ today?"

"You're evil," Jessica says, pretending not to notice as the rest of the table turns to listen. "Why are we even friends."

"Please, you're just as bad as me and you know it. Now, answer the question."

Mike looks like he wants to cut in and ask what's going on, but Angela distracts him before he can. Jessica resolves to get her something extra special for her birthday this year. Then she remembers the ambush from this morning and decides against it.

"Edward's fine," she says.

"Oh come on, Jess." Lauren reaches across the table and grabs Jessica's hands, holding them between her own. "This is the only good source of drama in this school and the fact that you want to deprive me of it is, frankly, a little but hurtful."

"You're so full of shit," Jessica says, but she can't stop the smile that spreads across her face.

"You love me," Lauren tells her. Jessica laughs but doesn't deny it.

"Fine, you win. We talked a little before class, but I kind of swore at him again? And then we argued about Bella."

"You argued about _me_?" Bella asks. She'd been talking to Eric who just sat down as well, but she turned to Lauren and Jessica's conversation when she heard her name. "Why?"

"Well, he mentioned that he talked to you yesterday and he sounded really smug about it, so I said that I hope you told him to go fuck himself."

"And this is the boy you want to go to the dance with." Bella sounds incredulous, and Jessica has to fight to keep from laughing.

"Umm, yes. That it correct," she says. "Anyway, he did his smolder thing and I told him it wouldn't work on me, and then he leaned in really close and it was super intimidating but also kind of hot?" She shrugs helplessly.

"Okay, but did you talk to him about the dance?" Lauren asks.

"Yes," Jessica says. Lauren groans.

"Well?" she prompts. "What did he say?"

"Not much, really. I flirted a little bit and I think it broke him."

"No way," Lauren says with a gasp. "What was it like?"

"It was really nice, actually," Jessica says. She blushes when she sees the way Laurena and Bella are watching her. "What? He was adorable!"

"I thought he was an asshole," Bella says, giving Jessica a flat look.

"Well, he's that too."

"God, whatever," Lauren says with exaggerated disgust, "I can't bear to hear any more of this."

"But-" Jessica tries to defend herself, but Lauren leans over the table to slap a hand over her mouth, stopping her.

"Just ask him out by the end of the day and we won't have any problems, alright?"

Jessica nods. Lauren smiles sweetly before taking her hand away, and Bella turns back to Eric who has started a rousing discussion with Mike and Angela about the possibility of contact with alien life in this century. As Jessica returns to her neglected lunch, Lauren follows Bella's lead and manages to turn what was once a semi-civil discussion into an argument in less than three sentences. Jessica is reluctantly impressed.

When she checks, she sees that Edward and Alice still haven't arrived to the cafeteria. There's only ten minutes before the bell that signals the end of lunch will ring, so she resigns herself to the fact that they probably won't show up at all. On any other day, she'd gladly join her friends in discussing the finer points of intelligent life forms in far away galaxies, but today, she decides to head to bio early in hopes of maybe getting the chance to talk to Edward again.

Lauren waves distractedly as she leaves, but the others are too invested to notice her sneak away.

She's almost to her biology classroom when she hears a squeal of excitement and flinches so hard she nearly drops her phone. She look up to see Alice Cullen skipping toward her. Once she gets closer, the other girl holds out her hand and Jessica slowly reaches out to shake it. She's pleased to note that Alice is shorter than her by at least a couple inches. She's so used to being that shortest among her friends that it's a refreshing change.

"Hello," Jessica says when the other girl doesn't do anything except smile at her. Out of all the Cullen siblings, Alice has always seemed to be the least stoic, but they've never really interacted before and she's a little confused about what the other girl might want.

"Hi!" Alice says as she practically vibrates in place. "It's so good to finally meet you! Jessica, right? I've waited so long to talk to you! Edward mentions you all the time." Jessica blushes.

"He does?" she asks. She almost doesn't want to hear about what Edward has said about her to his family, but her curiosity overpowers any apprehension she feels.

"Oh, yes," Alice says, suddenly mischievous. "He's always telling us stories about the annoying girl in class who won't stop challenging his intelligence. It's been great to hear him get so worked up about something, so thank you for that."

"No problem," Jessica says, feeling both dazed and pleased at the same time.

"Anyway," Alice says, "I'll let you go now. I know you probably want to talk to Edward. He's been horribly impatient all lunch period."

Jessica isn't sure how to respond. Luckily, Alice turns and walks away, humming happily to herself. Jessica follows her example and heads for the bio classroom. Before she can get too far, however, Alice turns back.

"Jessica!" she calls out. Jessica pauses and turns to look back at her. Alice is smiling again, but this time she just looks incredibly fond. "Don't worry too much, okay? He's going to say yes."

Jessica feels her breath catch, shock and confusion sending her mind reeling. She doesn't get a chance to ask the other girl to explain, however, because Alice hurries around a corner and vanishes from sight before she manages to find the words to ask.

By now, Jessica is positive that whatever Edward is, the rest of his siblings must be too, and she's beginning to think that maybe there's more to it than just beauty and super-strength.

Whatever. It's not important. Well, it is, but right now she's more concerned about asking Edward out than figuring out what he is. Priorities. They're important. She laughs at herself and then sighs. God, she's so pathetic, but by this point it's too late to back out. When she finally arrives at the door to the bio classroom, she's surprised to see Edward reclining against the wall next to it with his arms crossed over his chest. He looks startlingly handsome. It's so unfair.

"Hello, Jessica," he says when she approaches. He pushes away from where he's leaning against the wall and opens the door for her, gesturing her inside. She feels ridiculously charmed and he's only said two words. She smiles in thanks and heads inside to place her backpack at her bench. Instead of collapsing into her stool, however, she leaps up to sit atop the workbench, and Edward comes over to stand before her. He's tall enough that he only has to bend his knees a little to rest against the top of the workbench across the aisle. With her atop the bench and him slouching against his own, she's almost able to look him in the eyes without having to look up.

"You told your sister that I'm annoying," she says for lack of a better opener. Edward coughs into his fist, but Jessica can see the smile that he's trying to hide.

"Those weren't actually my exact words," he tells her.

"Really?" she asks as she raises her eyebrows. "Then tell me, what _were_ your exact words?"

"I simply told her that you're..." He pauses to think and Jessica can feel a smile forming so she bites her lip. "Challenging," he says. "You are very challenging."

"Okay," she says, "So you did tell her that I'm annoying. You just did it all fancy-like."

"Well-" He looks so offended that Jessica has to laugh, and he once more gets a look on his face that tells Jessica just how much he longs to roll his eyes at her.

"Do you deny it?" she asks. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back, as if praying for patience.

"You have to admit," he finally says, "that you were trying very hard to annoy me some days."

"Fair," she acknowledges. "But only because you were being such a dick." He scrunches his nose up at the word and she giggles at the sight.

"What's so amusing?" he asks.

"It's just," she says through her laughter, "you look so appalled!" He sniffs in derision.

"It's a vulgar word," he says, "It's rude." Unfortunately, this doesn't have the effect that he probably wanted, and Jessica just laughs harder. What a nerd. There must be something wrong with her because it just makes him even more endearing.

"Alright, old man," she says, "whatever you say."

He looks conflicted, offended and pleased at once. Finally, he settles on pleased and watches as Jessica laughs with a small smile.

"You never did tell me who you plan on asking to the dance," Edward says once Jessica has stopped laughing. Jessica blinks in shock. Alica made it sound like Edward was waiting to talk to her earlier. Could this be why?

"No," she says slowly. "I didn't. Why do you care?" Okay, so, antagonizing him probably isn't the best plan of action right now. Oops.

"I don't," he says with a shrug. He's practically glaring at the floor, and Jessica has never seen him tell a more blatant lie. He looks disappointed.

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to wait," she says. Even though she's practically dying to ask him there and then, she holds it back. She refuses to ask him here when someone is bound to walk in any minute. Edward looks frustrated now, and he stares directly into Jessica's eyes when he speaks.

"I suppose I will," he says. Jessica clears her throat awkwardly and fiddles with one of the pencils lying on the workbench. Edward doesn't look away.

"So, ah, your sister is nice," Jessica says after enough time has passed that the silence is becoming awkward. Edward laughs at that, and the harsh sound almost makes her flinch.

"Nice," he repeats. "I suppose that's one way to put it."

"Well, how would _you_ put it?" Jessica asks.

"Oh, I don't know." He's raised his voice slightly, as if talking to someone at the far end of the room, and Jessica feels compelled to look to make sure that no one is there. "Meddling and bothersome are the words I'd choose."

"Harsh," Jessica says. Edward shakes his head and laughs.

"Believe me," he says, "After spending as many years living with her as I have, you'd feel the same." Jessica laughs, but it's tainted with a hint of bitterness.

"I wish I had siblings," she says as she looks out the window behind Edward. Her mom had been pregnant once a few years before Jessica was born, but she'd miscarried. According to her mom, Tyler was going to be the name of their first child, so her parents had decided to use it for her middle name when she was born. It's a strange weight to carry wherever she goes, but she doesn't mind anymore.

She shakes off those heavy thoughts and looks back at Edward to see him looking away with his head bowed, as if trying to give her privacy. She appreciates the kindness of it, even though she knows he has no idea where her mind had just wandered.

"Okay," she says brightly, clapping her hands together. "It's time for a new topic!"

"I hope that topic is the effects of temperature changes on the rates of diffusion and osmosis, because we have a lot of work to do today," Mr. Banner says as he walks toward the front of the room.

Both Jessica and Edward flinch violently, and if Edward hadn't reached out to steady her, Jessica is sure that she'd have fallen off of the workbench she's perched upon. She hadn't even noticed Mr. Banner enter the room, and if the look of surprise on Edward's face is anything to go by, neither had he.

"Ms. Stanley, please refrain from sitting atop your workbench in the future," Mr. Banner says. Jessica blushes and hops down, smiling sheepishly at Mr. Banner. He shakes his head in fond exasperation and sits down at his desk to being preparing for class.

Edward still looks shocked when she looks over at him, and she bites her lip to keep from laughing aloud. It's extremely rare that anyone is able to catch him off guard. She's glad she was here to witness it happen.

Shortly after, more students begin to wander in, and Edward heads over to his own workbench. Jessica watches him with a small smile, and she only sits down in her stool when her lab partner walks in and asks why she's just standing there.

She hasn't managed to accomplish her goal yet, but Jessica can't make herself feel bad about it. After all, the day's not over yet.

She has time.

…

Biology and gym pass quickly.

As she leaves the gymnasium, Jessica does her best to spot Edward in the crowded hallways, but can't find him. Eventually, she gives up with a frustrated sigh and decides to just head to her locker. By the time she reaches her locker, however, the majority of the student body has left the building, so she easily spots the figure waiting for her.

This is her chance.

"We never got to finish our conversation earlier," Edward says as she approaches. He smiles at her and Jessica feels sick with nerves. She wants desperately to flee, but she can't get to her locker without going through him and it's too cold to leave school without her coat.

So.

She's doing this.

Edward is saying something to her, but she can't hear it, too distracted by the too loud sound of her own heartbeat. Maybe she should just-

No.

Lauren might actually kill her if she puts this off any longer.

Before she can second guess herself again, she takes a deep breath, and, "Willyougotothedancewithme?"

Edward blinks in shock, looking almost as surprised as he had when Mr. Banner managed to sneak up on them before bio, and Jessica can't help but laugh sheepishly as she blushes.

"What?" he asks faintly, as if by reflex.

"Uh, sorry," Jessica says before trying again. "Would you like to go to the girls' choice dance? With me?"

When he doesn't answer right away, still staring blankly at her, she fidgets nervously and looks around. No one's watching, but she feels exposed and she begins to realize that this might have been a horrible mistake.

Of course he doesn't want to go to the dance with her. Hell, a few months ago she would have sworn that he didn't even like her. He likes her now though, right? They're friends. At least, she thought they were friends. Has she been reading this wrong the entire time?

Oh god, she's going to be sick. For real this time.

Before she can shove her way around him, however, he reaches out to grab her arm and… huh…

It's cold. His hand, that is, and for her to know that means...

He's touching her.

Jessica looks down to check and, yep, there it is. Edward Cullen's hand is wrapped around her wrist. She pauses long enough for him to let go if he wants, now that he sees she won't flee the second she's released. He doesn't. Which means he wants to be touching her right now. With a giddy feeling rising in her chest, she turns her wrist in his hold and pulls so instead of grabbing her wrist, he's holding her hand.

He lets her.

Not once has she ever seen him willingly touch another person outside his family (even that's rare in public), and here he is, holding her hand.

It's nice. She won't even bother trying to deny it.

"Jessica," he says and god, his voice really is ridiculously smooth. Just like the rest of him. Damnit, she needs to get ahold of herself. Edward smiles when she looks up to meet his gaze and she feels like she's going to pass out, lightheaded with glee at the answer she now knows he's going to give.

"Yes, Edward?"

"I would be honored to go to the dance with you."

She knows the smile on her face must look ridiculous at this point, but she _feels_ ridiculous so she isn't too bothered.

Jessica would love to say that she acted with extreme poise and elegance in the face of his acceptance, but that would be a horrible lie. Instead, she does a little victory dance, still holding Edward's hand in hers. It must look absurd to anyone watching, but Jessica is too happy to care and Edward is laughing and that's all that matters.

"Are you sure?" she asks breathlessly once she manages to get herself under control. She meets Edward's gaze and his eyes are golden and practically sparkling under the florescent lights of the hallway.

"Without a doubt," he tells her. Jessica squeezes his hand gratefully, and he tugs her closer. She gladly steps into his space. He doesn't hug her. Instead, he lifts her hand to his lips and presses a kiss to the back of her hand. It's as if all of her days spent playing princess as a child have suddenly come true. Jessica's not entirely sure how to handle it.

Before Edward gets the chance to fluster her even further, a locker slams shut further down the hall and she jumps at the sound. It does wonders to knock her out of her Edward induced haze. She tugs her hand out of his hold as she looks around. According to the clock hanging on the wall, most of the cars in the lot have probably had enough to clear out by now.

"Um, right. I should probably head home," she says. Edward looks disappointed but steps back.

"I should as well," he says with a quiet sigh. "I drove my family today, and I'm sure they're ready to leave."

"Alright," Jessica says. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Of course," Edward says. "I look forward to it."

He bows his head slightly before turning on his heel to stride toward the doors, and Jessica watches him go with a silly smile on her face.

She can't wait to tell everyone.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who has read this story during the long waits between updates! It means so much to me that people are still interested.

This chapter was supposed to be part of the previous, but I couldn't fit in everything I wanted, so I split it into two. Also, it was mostly finished the day after I posted the previous chapter and I was going to post it then which is why I didn't include an author's note last time. I've been studying abroad in Mexico for the past three weeks, however, so I never got around to it.

Thanks again for reading!


	10. Chapter 9

As soon as she gets home, Jessica rushes upstairs and flings herself onto her bed. As she stares up at the ceiling, she can't help but giggle at the feeling of giddiness that has built up inside her, and squirms happily in place. She feels restless, suddenly, and wants to do nothing more than sprint through the streets, twirling and leaping for joy as she goes. Because she prides herself on being rather sensible, however, she grabs one of her pillows and squeezes it tightly to her chest instead.

Once she feels slightly more in control of her emotions, she rolls over to the side of her bed and digs through her backpack to find her phone. Upon posting in the groupchat she shares with Lauren and Angela in order to share her good news, she receives a series of exclamation marks and a surprisingly eloquent string of emojis.

She would love to call someone to talk since neither of her parents are home, but instead she contents herself with remembering the way Edward had smiled at her as he held her hand.

Less than fifteen minutes later, she's startled out of her daydreaming by the sound of loud knocking on the front door. Jessica sits up with a confused frown. They aren't expecting a package right now and the usual solicitors generally stop by a couple hours later. The knocking starts up again and she huffs as she gets out of bed and heads downstairs to open the door.

As soon as she gets the door open wide enough, she's knocked off her feet by a blur of blonde hair and excited squealing. As she blinks up at the ceiling, winded, Jessica sighs in resignation. She should have seen this coming.

"Get off," she says once she's had enough of lying on the hardwood floor, shoving ineffectively at Lauren's arms where they're wrapped around her neck. "A little help, please?" she asks, but Angela, who is leaning against the doorjamb, just smiles serenely and doesn't move to help at all.

"I'm sorry," Lauren tells her as she pushes up onto her elbows so she can look down at Jessica, "I'm just so proud!" She wipes a fake tear from her eyes. "Our little baby is all grown up."

"Okay," Jessica says with a sigh. "We're done." She rolls over, toppling Lauren from her perch, and sits up. "Why do you always do this?"

Lauren just laughs and sits up beside her. Now that they're no longer blocking the doorway, Angela closes the door, finally cutting off the cold air.

"I don't think she can help it," Angela tells her. Jessica rolls her eyes and reaches out a hand. Angela pulls her to her feet, and Jessica tugs her toward the stairs, leaving Lauren sitting alone by the door.

"Hey!" Lauren protests as she scrambles to her feet. "Don't just leave me here!"

"Hurry up, then," Jessica calls back, already halfway up the stairs. She hears Lauren run to catch up and lets out a bright laugh as she begins to sprint as well, still tugging Angela behind her. As soon as they reach her room, Jessica slams the door behind her and leans up against it, panting and breathless from laughter. Angela lets go of her hand and collapses into her bed, splaying out her limbs like a starfish, helpless against her own fit of giggles. She feels it when Lauren finally gets up the stairs, because the other girl immediately begins to bang her fists against the door at her back.

"Jessica!" her friend whines, "Let me in!"

"Only if you say the magic words!" Jessica sing-songs back. She hears a thunk that she assumes is Lauren's head hitting the door and laughs.

"Please?"

"Wrong!" A frustrated noise is all she gets in return, and Jessica takes pity. "All you have to do is repeat after me: Jessica Stanley is the coolest girl in the whole wide world and I will never make fun of her again."

"Ugh, fine!" Once Jessica is satisfied with the recitation, she pulls the door open and smiles winningly at her sulking friend. Lauren huffs and rolls her eyes, but can't quite hide her own smile as she trudges through the doorway.

"Glad you could finally join us," Angela says from where she's still taking up the entirety of Jessica's bed. Lauren flips her off before shoving her legs to the side to make room for herself on the bed. She pats the spot between her and Angela, and Jessica kicks her door shut and joins them. As soon as she's situated, Angela sits up so she can better see her.

"Alright," says Lauren. "Tell us everything that happened."

Jessica sighs happily and does her best to recount her most recent encounter with Edward. When she finally gets to the part where Edward kissed the back of her hand, Angela clasps her hands together over her heart and looks a bit misty eyed, and Lauren rolls her eyes.

"That's so sweet," Angela says. Lauren snorts.

"It's cheesy and old-fashioned," she says. "There's a difference."

"Well, I thought it was sweet," Jessica protests. Lauren waves her hand dismissively.

"Of course you did, Jess. But you're a bit of a romantic, so your opinion doesn't count."

"Um, excuse you," Jessica says. "I'm pretty sure mine is the only opinion that counts here."

"Oh please," Angela says as she shoves playfully at Lauren's shoulder. "Don't mind Lauren. She just doesn't want you to know how much she cares about your budding relationship." She ignores Lauren's attempts to shush her and continues with a smirk. "She wouldn't shut up about how excited she is for the entire ride over here." Lauren sticks her nose in the air and turns away, as if she was above the entire situation.

"Aww, Lor, you do care!" Jess exclaims. Lauren sticks her tongue out and Jessica throws herself onto her friend, wrapping her into a bear hug as they fall to lie flat on the bed. Angela laughs and joins in, and they stay there, breathing together, until Lauren begins to complain that she's being crushed by their weight.

"Honestly though," Lauren says once they're all sitting up again, "I'm glad it worked out. I mean, I knew it would, but still."

"Thanks," Jessica replies. She fidgets and shoves a lock of hair behind her ears. "I probably would have put it off forever without you guys."

"Nah," Lauren says. "Not forever."

"Yeah," Angela chimes in, "You probably would have managed it before you died, at least."

Jessica gives them a flat look, and Angela bursts into giggles as Lauren offers the other girl a high five. Angela gleefully accepts it, completely unrepentant.

Jessica sighs but doesn't bother trying to hide her smile.

Then, Lauren gasps loudly and grabs both Jessica and Angela, pulling them closer.

"What's wrong?" Jessica asks.

"We need to tell Tyler!" Lauren is practically bouncing in place. "He's going to be so excited!"

"Oh my god, Lor," Jessica says, "I almost had a heart attack I thought this was gonna be something important."

"How dare you!" Lauren exclaims. "The people have a right to know, Jessica."

"Speaking of Tyler," Angela says before Jessica can respond, "When is he supposed to get back to school again?"

Jessica and Lauren shrug.

"Probably sometime next week," Jessica says. "I'll call him later tonight."

Lauren seems satisfied by that and the conversation flows freely from topic to topic as they lounge about in the weak sunlight that shines on Jessica's bed. By the time her stepdad gets home, they've been talking for almost two hours. Both of her friends decline the offer to stay for dinner, and as Jessica watches them walk out to Angela's car together, she feels a rush of affection for them.

She's so glad she stumbled into Angela during her first day of school in Forks.

She honestly can't believe her luck sometimes.

...

The next morning, Jessica wakes to bright light streaming through her curtains. When she looks out the window, she frowns at the sight of gleaming snow and ice covering every surface.

Driving in this is going to be a pain, but at least it's not currently snowing.

Her drive to school is as fraught with icy patches as she feared, but she makes it to her parking spot with no incident. She sighs happily as she enters the school building, the rush of warm air feeling heaven-sent against her cold skin.

The morning passes without incident. Unfortunately, this lack of drama largely stems from the absence of the Cullen family, and Jessica pouts all through lunch. Lauren laughs at her sullen expression, but she also distracts the others to keep them from asking about her mood, so Jessica forgives her. Other than someone throwing up in gym, the rest of the day is just as dull as the beginning, and Jessica leaves school feeling unsatisfied.

Thankfully, Tyler calls her shortly after she gets home and manages to whip her back into a whirling mass of excitement as he presses for details with almost as much intensity as Lauren had the day before. Once they're forced to hang up by Tyler's mom coming to take him home, Jessica collapses into the large armchair that takes up the corner of the living room and stares blankly up at the ceiling.

If she had Edward's number, she'd be calling him right now to make sure he hasn't changed his mind in the day since she last saw him.

At the thought of hearing him say her name again, she wraps her arms around herself and curls up into a happy ball as she sinks into the cushions. She's being utterly ridiculous again, but she can't bring herself to care. Just two more days and then she'll get another chance to see Edward.

If she blushes at the thought of seeing him again, well, no one else has to know.

...

Jessica spends most of Saturday in the school gymnasium. Her morning is spent at volleyball practice, but once that's done she fucks around on the basketball courts with Mike and Eric for a couple hours while Angela heckles them from the bleachers where she's doing homework like the responsible loser she is.

Sunday is more subdued, and she uses it to catch up on her homework, spending most of the day with her work spread out on the dining room table. Once it begins to get dark and her parents are done with whatever errands they wanted to finish that day, Jessica joins her stepdad in the kitchen.

"Hey, Jess," he says with a grin as he shoves a cutting board and four tomatoes her way. "How was your day?"

Jessica grabs a knife from the drawer to her left and shrugs as she begins chopping the tomatoes in front of her. "It was okay, I guess. I finished all my homework."

"Good for you," her stepdad says, flashing her a thumbs up and laughing when she rolls her eyes at him.

"How was yours?" She looks up from her assigned task when he sighs heavily. "What's wrong?"

"A buddy of mine was telling me about some bodies they found near the southern border of the Olympic National Forest the other day," he says. When Jessica spins to face him with her mouth hanging open in shock, he nods with a grim look on his face. "That's how I felt too."

"Do they know how they died?" she asks. Her stepdad is shaking his head before she can even finish asking the question.

A couple times a year they'll get news of animal attacks or car accidents that were bad enough to be fatal, but usually it's not enough to make her stepdad look this nervous.

"Apparently, the bodies were drained of blood and mauled up pretty bad."

"Oh, god," Jessica says quietly with her hand clutching uselessly around the handle of the knife. "That's not normal."

Her stepdad presses a reassuring hand to her shoulder.

"It was far enough away that it shouldn't be a problem here," he says. Jessica tries to feel comforted with minimal success. "But don't be surprised if the police are out and about more than usual."

"Okay," she replies, and her stepdad seems satisfied by the response. A few moments pass and she gets into the rhythm of chopping again.

"Oh, and, Jess?" She looks up to meet the stern gaze of her stepdad. "I know you and your friends like to hang out in the woods some nights, but until this all blows over, I think you should stay indoors."

Jessica swallows nervously as she nods, not trusting her voice enough to actually answer.

Apparently he's more concerned than she first suspected.

For some reason, Edward's rage filled snarl from Bella's first day flickers to the forefront of her mind and by the time dinner is ready, she still can't quite dismiss it from her thoughts.

When she finally manages to get to sleep that night, she huddles underneath the covers with her comforter drawn over her head.

She doesn't dream.

...

The drive to school on Monday passes quickly, and once she gets to class, Jessica only barely manages to contain her excitement enough to focus on her coursework in Government. Lauren finds her efforts incredibly amusing, and she makes sure to let her know.

Thankfully, the bell for the end of class rings before she can snap, and Jessica escapes, Lauren's laugh following her out the door.

When she arrives at her English classroom, Edward is already there, and Jessica feels as if her nerves both settle and get worse at the sight of him. It's a strange, not entirely pleasant feeling, but with a deep breath, she opens the door and heads inside. Edward looks up at the sound of the door opening, and she smiles reflexively when he meets her eyes.

"Morning," she greets him as she drops into her seat and sets her backpack on the floor beside her. Edward closes the book he's been pretending to read and turns to give her his attention.

"Good morning," he says in reply. "How was your weekend?"

He's perfectly polite, but Jessica can't help but feel a little let down at the staid manner of his speaking.

"It was okay," she says, "I spent most of it with friends, so that was nice. My dad did mention something strange, though. Apparently, like, five dead bodies were discovered Saturday night and they still don't know who did it." To keep her hands busy, she digs through her backpack and takes out her supplies. "How was _your_ weekend?"

"Well, there were no corpses involved," Edward says dryly. He smiles when she sends him an embarrassed glare and stretches his legs beneath her chair as he leans toward her. "I mostly just caught up on my homework."

"Oh, well, that's boring."

"Mhmm." His smile turns predatory. Before he can say anything more, however, Mr. Collins walks through the door and asks for quiet as he begins taking attendance.

They're given a worksheet to fill out, a test to make sure they did the reading, and Jessica snatches the pile of worksheets as it's passed back before serenely handing the extras to the pair who sits behind her. Edward raises an eyebrow at her and she looks pointedly back at him. This is the only way he'll let her do any of the work, and they both know it.

"So," Jessica says with a bright smile, "what do you think about question one?"

Edward groans, pressing his forehead into his hands, and Jessica bites the eraser of her pencil to keep from snickering.

"That's what I think too," she tells him before writing an answer that she knows will get full points. As she writes, she makes sure to go exceptionally slow. "I'm glad you agree."

"You're trying to annoy me," Edward says. Jessica continues writing, making sure to dot all of her i's and cross every t.

"Am I?" She finishes writing the answer to question one and carefully reads the next one. "Oh my, question two is very interesting."

"Jessica."

"You know, if you're not going to help…" She trails off as she begins writing the answer to question two, even slower than before. She can practically feel Edward vibrating with tension beside her as he fights the urge to take the worksheet from her. "Alright! Only six questions left." She turns and smiles winningly at Edward. "We're doing great, partner!"

Edward stares flatly back at her and says, "You're lucky I like you."

"Aww, I like you too." She does her best to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. It's probably just her breakfast disagreeing with her. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Edward just told her he likes her. Nothing at all.

Finally, the stress of watching her write must be too much for him. In a move almost too quick for her to track, Edward steals the worksheet from under her hand and begins to rapid-fire fill out the remaining questions.

"Hey!" Jessica protests. "I was working on that."

"Should have done it faster," Edward says as he finishes answering question four.

"At least let me do the next one."

"No."

Jessica crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, kicking absently at one of the legs of Edward's desk. She sighs heavily when he finishes the final question, and he offers the completed worksheet to her.

"Would you like to look over my answers?"

Jessica pouts.

"And here I thought you'd be nice to me for a change," she says as she twirls a strand of hair around her finger. Edward leans back in his chair and smirks at her. It's impossible to ignore him when he gets in her space like that, and he knows it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he practically purrs, and whoever decided that he should be able to talk like that should be destroyed because Jessica physically _cannot_ deal with it. "You weren't very nice to me earlier. Forgive me if I wasn't aware that _nice_ is what you wanted."

Jessica can feel herself blushing, and she lets out a frustrated groan as she presses her face into her hands, hiding her burning cheeks.

"Shut up," she says, and although she knows she's whining, she'll never admit it.

"Make me," Edward responds, and Jessica can practically hear that fucking smirk in his voice. At this point, she's pretty sure that her bones have given up and turned to mush because it takes all of her willpower not to melt into a puddle of embarrassed glee right there. He's being playful, and she's torn between two competing desires. On one hand, she wants to tackle him to the ground and bite back. On the other, she wants to pull his face toward hers and smother him with kisses until he can't talk anymore.

It's a struggle she feels she'll become quite acquainted with in their remaining time together.

Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, Mr. Collins stands from his desk and claps his hands together, drawing everyone's attention and breaking the tension that holds Jessica in place. They spend the remainder of the period discussing their answers as a class, but Jessica can't shake the feeling of Edward's attention focused almost entirely upon her.

When the bell that signals the end of class rings, Jessica is surprised when Edward isn't one of the first out the door. Instead, he stands by his desk, watching her put everything in her bag before shadowing her toward the door once she's done.

"May I walk you to class?" he asks as he holds the door open for her. Jessica bites her lip, trying and failing to hold back a pleased smile.

"You may," she says.

Edward smiles back at her and although they don't talk much on the way to her Trigonometry classroom, she appreciates the company. Once they arrive, Edward holds the door open for her again, and she clutches at the straps of her backpack.

"Thanks," she says, "Um… I'll see you in Bio?"

"Of course," Edward says. He nods in farewell and turns to leave, and Jessica can't help the sappy look on her face as she watches him go.

She hears someone clear their throat and startles in place, whirling to see Bella standing beside her.

"Hey, Jessica," Bella says. She tilts her head inquisitively and gestures toward the open doorway. "You gonna go inside?"

"Oh, um, yes," Jessica says as she hurries into the classroom and collapses into her seat. Bella follows at a more sedate pace.

"So." Bella pauses. "What was that about?"

"Nothing." Jessica stares resolutely forward.

"Really." She props her chin on her hand, resting her elbow on the desk. "Because I saw saw Edward walking away and I was just wondering if that had anything to do with it."

Jessica taps her fingers against her desk, uncomfortable under Bella's scrutiny. She's reasonably certain that they've already solved all of their Edward issues, but she doesn't want to find out otherwise now. She clears her throat.

"It might," she says. She glances over to see Bella watching her with a fond smile on her face.

"Good," the other girl says. "It's about time."

Jessica laughs, startled, and Bella's smile grows wider. She doesn't need Bella's approval, but it feels good to have it anyway. Losing her friendship over a boy would have sucked. But really, she thinks as Bella begins telling her about her weekend, she should have known better than to doubt her newest friend.

Trig and Spanish pass quickly, and soon enough Bella is accompanying her to the lunch room.

As soon as they sit down, Bella is accosted by Mike, and Jessica laughs when Bella looks at her as if asking for help. Apparently, Mike still hasn't gotten it through his brain that a girls' choice dance means that it's up to the girl to ask, and he's taken to pestering her about it any chance he gets.

"So, how was talking to _Eddie_?" Lauren asks once Jessica is settled, leaning forward with her palms down on the table. Jessica crinkles her nose in disgust.

"Don't call him Eddie." She glares and Lauren lifts her hands in surrender. "It's weird."

Lauren looks briefly disappointed when she doesn't say anything more, but she soon gets over it when Angela arrives, late as usual.

"Hey, guys," Angela says. She sets down her tray and sits between Mike and Lauren, across from Bella. Instead of starting to eat, however, she pushes her tray away and looks intently at Bella. "Did your dad say anything about the bodies found in the forest over the weekend?"

Bella looks surprised, and Jessica tilts her head in question when she catches Angela's gaze. The other girl isn't normally one for gossip, although Jessica supposes that this isn't exactly on the level of who got caught having an affair recently. If she's going to gossip about anything, it makes sense that it would be dangerous enough to actually warrant some concern. Forks isn't the smallest town in existence, but it's small enough that people will be talking about this incident for at least a couple weeks, regardless of the fact that it took place miles away.

"He didn't, actually," Bella says. She picks at the pile of fries on her plate and sends a confused glance Jessica's way. Jessica shrugs "Why?"

"It's just strange, is all," Angela replies. "There aren't many cases like it, you know, with the blood being drained and everything, so I thought the Chief of Police might know something." Bella straightens in her seat, looking suddenly focused.

"Drained of…" She trails off, and when Jessica sees the way Bella's eyes flit over to the Cullen table, she follows her gaze. They don't look like they're paying attention to their table, but they're not talking amongst themselves either. Bella shakes her head and relaxes her posture once more. "Well, if he knows anything, he didn't tell me."

Angela sighs in disappointment and turns away, and Bella leans toward Jessica to whisper in her ear, "We need to talk later." She nods subtly toward the Cullen table.

"Can I invite Lauren?" Jessica asks. It would make more sense to have both of them there since both are suspicious of the non-human nature of the Cullen family, and it would be convenient to share information rather than have Jessica act as a messenger. Bella nods, and Jessica resolves to text Lauren later.

They're in the middle of a conversation about serial killers when Alice Cullen appears beside their table. Upon seeing her, everyone at the table freezes, and it falls upon Jessica to greet her.

"Hey, Alice," Jessica says with a smile. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if I could sit with you guys," she explains. Jessica looks over to see the rest of the Cullens haven't left their table, and although she's somewhat confused, she doesn't see any harm in it.

"Um, sure," she says. No one objects, so Jessica waves her toward the open seat on Lauren's right side. She sets her tray down happily. No one says anything, and the silence is so painfully awkward that Jessica is compelled to break it. "We were just talking about our weekends," she says. It's a blatant lie, but she refuses to tell the sister of the guy she wants to date that she'd just been heatedly discussing the methods of famous twentieth century serial killers.

It doesn't really seem like the kind of stuff you talk about until at least the fourth date.

Thankfully, Alice accepts the lie. "Well, I'm sure my brother told you all about our weekend, so I'll spare you the details," she says with a smile. Jessica shrugs, still unsure how exactly to interact with the other girl. Last time they'd talked, she was mostly just blown away by her.

"I guess," Jessica says. She looks around desperately, but no one offers any help. "I mentioned some dead bodies that were found over the weekend and he didn't seem too bothered by it. Did he know about them?"

"I don't think so," Alice says. She tilts her head in a birdlike manner, looking concerned. "Why? What's got everyone so interested?"

"Well." Jessica pauses, not sure if she wants to go on. The thought of scaring this fey girl is actually rather concerning. "Whoever killed them made sure they were completely drained of blood."

"Oh, like a vampire!" Alice clasps her hands together, and the look on her face is a little too excited for Jessica's peace of mind. "How interesting. You don't get stuff like that around here very often."

Lauren catches Jessica's eye and tilts her head toward Alice with a significant look on her face. Jessica purses her lips in reply. When she glances over, she sees Bella watching Alice with a look of barely restrained curiosity.

It looks like they'll have a lot to talk about later.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who's kept reading even with the long waits between chapters. I've been doing a lot of writing for class, so I haven't had the willpower to write for fun beyond a couple hundred words here or there

I'm currently trying to decide between tightening this story up or letting it ramble on as it pleases. Both will get there in the end, but the first will get you there faster, although a fair amount will have to be cut. For example, scenes like the first part of this chapter would be cut since they don't move the plot forward. They don't really add anything in terms of characterization, either... Idk guys these characters just keep talking.

Anyway if you prefer one or the other, let me know.


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